Top regional center chief says Obama’s EB-5 tweaks would decimate program
Just before President Obama left office, the Department of Homeland Security proposed some serious rule changes to the EB-5 visa program, which awards green cards to foreign nationals investing in job-creating U.S. projects. The government currently gives out 10,000 of these visas a year, the overwhelming majority of them to Chinese investors investing in real estate development projects.
In the wake of a number of scandals related to fraudulent investment activity, dirty money, and skepticism about how many jobs the program really creates, the Obama administration proposed raising the minimum investment threshold to more than double what it is now, shallowing the pool of eligible investors.
Mentions
- The Real Deal
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Hudson Yards Manhattan Tower A-1 - A-8
- Chuck Grassley
- Gotham City Regional Center (Silverstein Properties Regional Center )
States
- New York
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In my opinion Brunner is wrong. The demand for EB-5 visas is high and oversubscribed and the comparable quality programs from other countries are more expensive than the proposed minimum amounts for EB-5. Therefore a higher minimum amount per visa will increase the overall funding flow and relieve some of the pressure/challenge to create 10 jobs/visa. As an entrepreneur I can assure you that it is more difficult to create 10 jobs with $500K of EB-5 investment support than it is with $1.35 million of EB-5 support... Projects will be better financed for their level of job creation, with less risk of borderline forecast and overall a better quality and manageability of the projects. This increase will allow the program to better support smaller projects or direct investments that create W2-jobs. The only stakeholders benefiting from a smaller minimum amount per visa are the attorneys & agencies whose fees are directly related to the head-counts of immigrants per project.