The EB-5 Regional Center Program Has Been Extended

The congressional appropriations bill passed last month included an extension of the EB-5 Regional Center program through September 30, 2019. We expect that the program will be extended in the future as well. This change will not affect applications from investors who are looking to create their own business. Immigration Options for Indian Nationals Many Indian citizens who are reviewing their potential immigration options have questio... Read More

EB-5 Regulation to Substantially Increase the Minimum Investment Amount Moves Forward

Recent news out of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) suggests that an increase to the EB-5 minimum investment amount may come in the next few months. OMB recently moved a regulation that would increase the minimum investment amount to the review stage, the last stage before the rule will be finalized, published and will go into effect. The actual timing for the rule to go into effect is unknown. The review stage can take anywhe... Read More

Review of 2018 Changes to EB-5 Part 3: Changes to EB-5 Requirements and General Trends

Over the past few weeks, I have been posting thoughts on the key EB-5 developments of 2018. We’ve covered changes to the Regional Center Program, as well as the shifts in wait times and utilization that the program has seen recently. Today I’ll be closing out our 2018 review series by discussing the changes that we expected to see to the program in 2018, the changes that actually took place, and what this all means for EB-5 moving for... Read More

New Information on I-829 Receipts and Impacts of the Government Shutdown

Information Regarding I-829 Receipts In order to file for the removal of conditions on their permanent resident status, investors must complete the I-829 Form. It will only be approved if an EB-5 investor can prove that 10 jobs were created and the investment was maintained at risk. The USCIS will issue a receipt once the I-829 is filed. This receipt, called a Form I-797, allows for travel, work and driver’s license extensions by extend... Read More

D.C. Judge Rules Loan Proceeds Are Cash In Wang Case

U.S District Judge Trevor N. McFadden declared that a Chinese citizen’s investment of loan proceeds in the U.S. holds up as a cash investment and can be used to qualify her for for the EB-5 program. This determination was a direct rejection of the stance held by USCIS that loan money should be considered debt as opposed to cash, but fell closely in line with the ruling from a similar lawsuit, Zhang vs. USCIS, which also hinged on the interpret... Read More

Review of 2018 Changes to EB-5 Part 2: Changes to the Regional Center Program

In my last article we discussed obstacles and issues that faced the EB-5 program in 2018. These issues have largely arisen due to larger political factors, which recently resulted in a 35 day government shutdowns that just ended last week and drove volatility into basically all immigration conversations. The Regional Center Program has not been immune to these large scale political factors, for a number of reasons. First, the Regional Ce... Read More

Review of 2018 Changes to EB-5

2018 was an interesting, and not altogether positive, year for the EB-5 program. Frequent political battles impeded the creation of a long term extension for the Regional Center program, wait times for Vietnam and India continued to increase and the program continued to be largely unusable for Chinese citizens (unless they are willing to wait over a decade to receive their visa). With all of these obstacles to program success, many potential inv... Read More

USCIS Policy Update

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is making updates to its policy manual regarding the geographic area of a regional center. Namely, the updates involve changes to requests to expand geographic area and how such a request would impact the filing of Form I-526 petitions. One policy update states that a Form I-924 amendment must be filed and approved to expand a regional center’s geographic area for any request made on... Read More

OMB Announcement Suggests EB-5 Investment Amount May Change Very Soon

We have just received an updated notice from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) regarding the potential increase in EB-5 investment amounts and the changing of TEA rules. This new notice is a republishing of OMB’s initial statement from January 2017. However, the update provides guidance that the EB-5 investment amount may be increased as soon as November 2018 alongside changes to the TEA rules. It is unclear whether OMB will delay ... Read More

Short Term EB-5 Extension to 12/7/2018; Long Term Extension May Be Within Sight

House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen’s recent announcement that the government will continue to be funded through December 7th via a continuing resolution has some very positive implications for EB-5. This resolution will allow funding for the EB-5 Regional Center Program to continue through at least that date. This is very good news for people interested in the EB-5 program as the program is currently set to expire on Septembe... Read More