The Reform and Integrity Act passed in March of 2022 re-established the EB-5 regional center investor immigration program making it possible for foreign investors to immigrate to America. The regional center aspect is by far the most popular part of the EB5 program and over 80 percent of foreign investors have used it to apply for green cards. Most investors under the program in recent years have been arriving from China, India, and Vietnam. However, until now those investors were troubled by long backlogs that made the program untenable in many cases due to the long waiting periods involved. Not anymore, however.
To briefly restate the requirements of the regional center program, to qualify for immigration purposes foreign investors have to invest $ 800,000 in a rural, high unemployment or infrastructure program. Otherwise, the minimum investment amount is $ 1,050,000. The invested funds must create at least 10 new jobs within a period of about 2.5 years from when the petition is approved. Under the program, not only direct jobs but indirect jobs can be counted and economic studies are filed showing how a given project creates these indirect jobs. This is one of the best reasons why the regional center program is so successful. The regional center project must document how it will create at least 10 new jobs for each investor and the investor must document a lawful source and path of funds being invested. The two documented parts are filed together with the investor petition to start the process. The filing date of an I-526E petition for the investor is very important because it determines the priority date for the investor in the processing of applications. The money is tied up for a period of about five years with little or no interest paid on it.