As you all know, the EB-5 current investment amount is $500,000 in a targeted employment areas, but we have been experiencing quite a bit of uncertainty about this amount for well over a number of years now. On March 9, 2018, Congress released a working draft of a new compromise reform and re-authorization bill to be passed on March 23rd. However, it could not garner the support of all industry organizations and failed to be included in the omnibus appropriations legislation which would have reformed the EB-5 Visa program. The omnibus legislation, however, does include an extension of the current EB-5 Regional Center Program through September 30, 2018. The proposed bill could become the law after the clean extension date. Therefore, we think it might be a good idea to review its salient features.
If passed, the failed bill would have made a few major changes to the current law. First and foremost, the proposed legislation would have risen the minimum investment amount from $500,000 to $925,000 for investments in targeted employment areas (“TEA”) and from $1M to $1,025,000 for all other investments. This change would have only applied to cases filed after the enactment date of the new law. This increased investment amount would not have applied retroactively to investors who currently have pending EB-5 petitions.
The problem though is that this law would have reclassified most TEA projects as non-qualifying for the lower investment amount. Aside from the cosmetic change of alteration of the name of TEA to “Rural Area, Priority Urban Investment Areas and Infrastructure projects” almost all of the current TEA projects would have been redefined as “other” and would have been processed with the $ 1,025,000 number.
The second major change would have been the job requirement for investors. While the current requirement is ten new jobs for each investment, the new bill would have required investments made in TEAs to create a minimum of nine new U.S. jobs, while other projects to create a minimum of twelve new U.S. jobs.
The bill also was proposing a new system for filing cases, in which investors would be able to file a one-step I-526 application together with an I-485 adjustment of status application. Regarding filing, investors would have needed to present a new set of records together with their application, including tax records for the past 7 years, foreign business records, etc.
One interesting and very useful aspect of the bill was that it would have allowed one additional unmarried child to be included in the parent petition even if the child was over 21 years old.
Finally, the bill proposed a “120-day moratorium” wherein USCIS would stop accepting investor and regional center petitions for 120 days from the day of the bill’s enactment. The light at the end of the tunnel however, is that unlike what many predicted, whether this failed bill had passed or in its current clean extension until September 30, 2018 form, the regional center program is not being shut down. The new bill would have reauthorized Regional Center Program to 2023, so while the required minimum investment amount would have been raised, we would have no longer needed to worry about temporary extensions.
Now, we wait! It is possible that in the next few months we could see attempts to change the current program through previously introduced regulations. This means that TEA projects could go from $ 500,000 to $ 1.35 million and non-TEA projects could go from $ 1 million to $ 1.8 million. One benefit of the regulatory path is that the TEA definitions are not changing much so after the grace period (60 days – 120 days) there is almost no danger for current TEA projects to be reclassified requiring the investment amounts to go up to $ 1.8 million.
In summary, we know that what is going on in the industry is quite confusing and frankly tiring. The message now is clear though. We had arguably the biggest scare of a definite raise in the investment amount which has not materialized. That said, IIUSA, the national non-profit trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center industry with a mission of advocacy, education, industry development and research, reported the failed enactment of the omnibus bill in the form reported in this article as a “disappointment”. IIUSA reported recently that “after additional revisions were made to the compromise draft, IIUSA’s Board of Directors voted overwhelmingly to support the bicameral compromise that would have offered a six-year reauthorization and much-needed reforms.”
What is the lesson for investors waiting in the sidelines?
This means that if the advocates for EB-5, such as IIUSA are arguing for a change along the lines of what almost became the law, the enactment of a law with provisions substantially the same as the failed one or worse is near. Potential investors who are serious about taking advantage of this wonderful program therefore should act now while they still can at these favorable terms before it is too late.
If you are ready to move forward with this fantastic immigration program or simply want to get more information about the opportunity, please do not hesitate to call us at + 1 917 355 9251 or write to us at info@americaeb5visa.com.
Posted by americaeb5visa on March 21, 2018