As reported by Ballard Spahr in previous Alerts, many members of Congress have proposed and considered several reform measures to the U.S. Immigrant Investor Program, known as "EB-5," over the past several years. With the sunset of the EB-5 Program looming, House Appropriations Chair Rodney Frelinghuysen introduced a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) on April 26, 2017, to continue funding federal programs and services until May 5, 2017, including the EB-5 Program.
The CR would continue funding for legislation enacted in fiscal year 2016 Appropriations legislation. Today, the House Appropriations Committee released the fiscal year 2017 Omnibus Appropriations bill to provide discretionary funding for the federal government for the current fiscal year. The Comprehensive Government Funding Bill includes a sentence that would extend the EB-5 Program to September 30, 2017, without change, if passed. (The final paragraph of Page 734 substitutes "September 30, 2017" in place of "September 30, 2015.") It remains possible that Congress could pass EB-5 legislation before September 30, 2017, in view of the numerous bills introduced this year, as previously reported by Ballard Spahr. We will issue additional Alerts as developments occur.