When Congress failed to reauthorize the Regional Center program on June 30, 2021. The United States Citizenship and Immmigration Services (“USCIS”) placed all pending applications on hold until Congress releases a directive on a way forward for the program.
The EB-5 immigrant investor program, popularly known as the U.S. Golden Visa, has allowed for investors and their immediate families to immigrate to the U.S. for over 30 years. Under the program investors must inject $500,000 capital investment into a government approved commercial enterprise. Once their application is approved the investor and their immediate family, namely spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 years would receive a U.S. green card and residency.
While the regional center program has been placed on hold major players in the EB-5 industry have been working tirelessly to ensure that firstly the program is reauthorized and prospective applicants can start submitting their applications, and secondly that the investors that filed prior to the lapse of the program are affected as least as possible. On December 9, IIUSA, a strong advocate of the EB-5 program submitted a letter to the USCIS requesting that the agency state publicly that they will continue to hold the program in a state of temporary suspension until Congress reaches a decision in February 2022. The letter primarily seeks to address the current statement found on the USCIS website that states that if the U.S. government does not enact new legislation regarding the regional center program by the end of the 2021 calendar year, USCIS will reevaluate whether to keep the pending cases on hold. This statement has understandably caused a great deal of panic for those that filed in good faith before the lapse of the program.
Shai Zamanian, Legal Director of the American Legal Center and EB-5 expert in Dubai, is confident that the regional center program will be attached to the next federal budget bill. While there has been a delay with Congress enacting new legislation, the conversation among policymakers has been ongoing since the announcement of the lapse of the program. “There are active efforts being put in place to ensure that the regional center program is reauthorized with additional protective measures for the current and future investors.”
The letter to USCIS asks the federal agency to protect the investors who have invested in the EB-5 program in good faith. This continues to show that various EB-5 industry parties are lobbying for the fast resolution to the reauthorization of the program. This delay has created a great deal of uncertainty for current investors and prospective investors, however there has always been an interest to revitalize the program.
Shai Zamanian further reiterates that there is no reason for past investors to panic about their pending applications. The current situation is not immune to a singular person or a small group of people, there is a significant number of people that are affected by the delay in reauthorization; whether these are current or future investors, regional centers, or the U.S. economy. There is a significantly large portion of people that are directly or indirectly affected. Therefore current and prospective investors can rest assured that the EB-5 community is working towards ensuring that their interests are protected and that their applications are affected in the least possible manner. The American Legal Center is a team of U.S. licensed attorneys that are ready to assist any prospective investor start their EB-5 regional center process.