Good news today for prospective EB-5 investors as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed an appeal to increase the minimum investment amount from its current value of $500,000. In other words, the EB-5 minimum investment amount will stay at $500,000 for projects located in a Targeted Employment Area, at least for the time being.
The appeal, originally filed by Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, in August 2021 was an attempt to increase the minimum investment amount back to $900,000. Secretary Mayorkas filed this appeal in response to the Behring Case Ruling, which reduced the minimum investment amount to $500,000. To learn more about the Behring Case Ruling, please read our blog posts “BREAKING NEWS: Behring Lawsuit Decision Is Reached” and “USCIS Breaks Their Silence On The Behring Case Ruling”.
The $900,000 amount was enacted in the regulations installed in November 2019 and subsequently repealed in June 2021. The DHS’s decision to dismiss this appeal means that their efforts to restore the minimum investment amount back to $900,000 have been surrendered in perpetuity.
For more information, please refer to our podcast episode where we delve into the changes brought by the November 2019 Regulations or our recent blog post explaining all the changes happening with EB-5.
Despite this dismissal, EB-5 Practitioners are bracing themselves for an increase in the minimal investment amount, perhaps within a couple of months, either through new regulations established by USCIS or legislation passed by Congress. If USCIS does decide to enact new regulations, this could result in only a 30-day grace period before the investment amount increases again – leading to a rush of filings in a short amount of time.
We will continue to keep you updated.
Click here to view the full dismissal notice.