The foreign investors eager to permanently immigrate to the United States consider the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. This program is considered the fastest and simplest way to attain U.S. permanent resident status.
Those who choose to make an EB-5 investment get the green cards for themselves. Their family members are presented with two options: direct investment in an EB-5 project and indirect investment through an EB-5 regional center.
The EB-5 Regional center program closes on the date June 30, 2021, the EB-5 investment world finds itself in a bind.
The bill is mainly concerned with the tightening of security and integrity measures that root out fraud more effectively and also ensure that EB5 investment capital is used as Congress intended. The changes are generally beneficial for investors, as the bill includes special protections for those with EB-5 investments. It also introduces more stringent integrity measures for regional centers, which would make it easier for a prospective EB-5 investor to locate a trustworthy EB-5 regional center to invest through.
- The key changes proposed in the bill for EB-5 investors
- Long-term EB-5 Regional Centre Program Reauthorization
- The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act will reauthorize the regional center program through 2026, benefitting applicants who make an EB-5 investment through the regional center relaxes for the next five years.
More Accountability from Regional Centres to Investors
The regional center EB5 investment offers a variety of advantages over the direct investment route. For instance, regional center investors that do not get engaged in New Commercial Enterprise (NCE), giving them more time and freedom from their EB5 project. Regional Centre Investors also have the advantage to include indirect and induced jobs in their job creation, making the requirement of 10 newly created full-time jobs for U.S. workers. Also, if a foreign national makes an EB5 investment through a USCIS-approved regional center, they can leverage the knowledge and experience of the EB-5 experts on staff.
Stronger Protections for EB-5 Investors
If an investor finds themselves in a fraudulent regional center, the EB5 Reform and Integrity Act salvage their immigration eligibility. AS long as an investor is not involved with fraud themselves, they associate with EB-5 entities, and they meet remaining EB-5 requirements, they shall continue their participation in residency-by-investment programs. An investor would be given 180 days to find a new regional centre and make whatever additional investment is necessary to create the remaining jobs needed to fulfill the EB-5 requirements.
Another protection the bill would offer applies to EB-5 investors with older children
Under U.S. immigration law, a child must be unmarried and younger than 21 to be considered a child for immigration purposes. The proposed bill will protect the children of certain EB-5 investors from aging out if their petition was terminated or their application to remove the conditions on their conditional permanent residency was denied.
Mandatory for USCIS to Work Toward Faster Processing Times
The issue of long processing times has been detrimental not only to the EB-5 program but to U.S. immigration as a whole. The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act would address the slow processing times in the EB-5 program by laying out reasonable processing times and forcing USCIS to conduct a fee study within a year of enactment. Further, USCIS would be required to adjust program fees as necessary to process EB-5 petitions at the stipulated efficiency.
Acquest Advisors is an Investment Immigration Advisory specialising in Citizenship and Permanent Residency through Investment Immigration programs run by governments esp. America, Canada & Europe.