On October 11, 2023, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its policy on the minimum investment period for EB-5 visa applicants. This update seeks to clarify how USCIS interprets changes made by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA).
The RIA stated that an investment is expected to remain invested for not less than two years, but does not specify when the two years start. The new guidance published on the USCIS website states that this two-year period begins when investor funds are deployed to the job-creating entity (“JCE”). As long as 10 jobs have been created by an EB-5 investor’s investment, he or she can be repaid after two years and remain eligible for a U.S. Green Card. This is a significant change to the “at-risk” requirement for EB-5 investors.