Reform Bill EB-5 Passed: March 11, 2022
On March 11, 2022, the United States Congress passed an Appropriations Bill, also recognized as the “Omnibus” spending bill. Which will distribute discretionary government funds across a wide variety of issues. A bill to extend the EB-5 Regional Center Program is one among the numerous provisions contained in the Omnibus, and it will take effect 60 days after President Biden signs it.
The passed bill extends the regional center program until September 30, 2027, it is the first long-term reauthorization the EB-5 Regional Center Program has received since 2015. The Act modifies the program in several ways as follows:
- The Act will raise the necessary EB-5 investment level for regular investments to $1,050,000 on the date of enactment, increasing from the current $1,000,000. The minimum investment level for typical EB-5 projects will be subject to adjustments according to the Consumer Price Index beginning January 1, 2027, and every five years afterwards. The minimum investment level for TEAs and infrastructure projects would be increased to 60% of the usual investment requirement
- limits the contiguous census tracts from being designated as high-unemployment TEA designation
- reserves 32% of visas for immigrants investing in defined categories (20% for rural areas, 10% for DHS designated high-unemployment areas, and 2% for infrastructure projects).
More than a year after the cap on new EB-5 Regional Center petitions was reached and the USCIS stopped accepting new filings, the agency announced that it is now accepting and processing “Pending” cases. According to today’s announcement, the agency has reopened and will continue processing new filings of I-924 applications for Regional Centers, as well as I-526 petitions for Alien Entrepreneur.
Good news for investors who have been waiting for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to re-open the doors to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program. The USCIS also announced that foreigner investors waiting for their I-526 petition to be approved can now enter the US as long as they have a pending I-526 petition and any other required visa. The current USCIS policy allows a foreign national to enter the United States on a valid, if expired, visa as long as they have an approved or pending I-526 petition. Previously, such visitors were required to obtain a new visa at a US Consulate in their country of residence outside the US before they could re-enter the US.
