Long-Awaited EB-5 Policy Changes & Regional Center Re-Authorization
The U.S. Congress has re-authorized the EB-5 Regional Center program for the next 5 years, through September 30, 2027. President Biden will likely sign the bill officially into law today. Once the law is officially on the books, USCIS and the U.S. Department of State will begin to process pending EB-5 cases and EB-5 Visa applications that were put on hold during the lapse.
Briefly, we summarize some of the key EB-5 policy changes below:
- For new EB-5 filings, the minimum investment amount has been raised from $1,000,000 (or $500,000, in a Targeted Employment Area), to $1,050,000 (or $800,000, in a TEA or infrastructure project). This increased investment requirement will not be applied to current EB-5 investors with pending petitions.
- New EB-5 investors filing with Regional Centers may begin to file Form I-526 petitions to start their immigration process 60 days after the new law goes into effect.
- Eligible EB-5 investors and their family members in the United States may file applications for adjustment of status concurrently with or while awaiting adjudication of their Form I-526 petition.
- Any EB-5 investor who has filed their Regional Center Form I-526 petition, or who does file their Form I-526 by September 30, 2026, is guaranteed to have their Form I-526 petition and their Form I-829 petition adjudicated, even if the EB-5 Regional Center program were to lapse again.
- Specific to Regional Centers, there are additional policy changes that have been implemented following many years of lobbying on the part of the EB-5 industry. The new law has changed some of the requirements related to calculation of job creation numbers, qualification of high unemployment TEAs, EB-5 project “exemplar” requests, redeployment of investment funds, visa number allocation, compliance matters, marketing agents, fees, among other things.
While there is a backlog of cases due to both the pandemic and also the lapse of the Regional Center program, the good news is that the U.S. government is now authorized to start going through it. Please contact Abbas Law PLLC today to see if the EB-5 program is a good fit for you, or to see how this new law may affect your currently pending case.
