The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a proposed rule to officially update the federal regulatory handbook for the EB-5 immigrant investor program.
This active administrative action, identified as RIN 1615-AC94, aims to formally embed the enhanced integrity measures, fund oversight rules, and investment thresholds of $800,000 and $1.05 million established by the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
This proposed rulemaking strengthens the EB-5 program by officially integrating provisions of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) into federal regulation.
Other key changes include stricter rules on bridge financing, the removal of troubled business eligibility, a focus on regional center project applications, new compliance requirements for fund administration, registration for promoters, and enhanced enforcement measures to combat fraud and ensure national security. Additionally, the rules for petition withdrawals and automatic revocations have been clarified.
DHS released the official draft on July 2, beginning a mandatory 60-day public comment period and receiving final administrative clearance before its compliance frameworks become legally binding.
What actually changes with the rulemaking and when?
The current minimum investments are generally $1.05 million and $800,000 for Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs).
However, the CFR, the government’s official regulatory handbook that corresponds to laws passed by Congress, still shows the historical limits of $500,000 for TEAs and $1 million for general investment.
This update in federal regulation is separate from the mandatory clause in the RIA requiring the government to adjust EB-5 investment thresholds for inflation every 5 years, with the next adjustment taking place on January 1, 2027.
Among the key updates introduced by this regulatory move, Ishaan Khanna, president of the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA), highlighted two “pro-investor” changes that support the EB-5 program’s overall sustainability, specifically regarding the investment sustainment period and third-party promoters.
“AIIA commends the Department of Homeland Security for faithfully implementing Congress’s two-year sustainment reform in its newly published EB-5 proposed rule,” Khanna said. “We are specifically happy with DHS’s explicit acknowledgment that the pre-RIA redeployment framework forced investors to keep capital exposed for years beyond what Congress intended solely due to processing delays outside their control, and welcomed the rule’s recognition that post-RIA redeployment ‘should be highly unlikely.'”
Khanna noted that this recognition validates AIIA’s concerns, raised since 2022, about the harms that open-ended redeployment cycles have had on EB-5 investments, an issue that is at the center of ongoing litigation between regional center trade association Invest in the USA (IIUSA) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) over the length of time that investors must keep their funds invested in an EB-5 project.
As for third-party agents, Khanna pointed to updates that improve accountability and transparency across the EB-5 ecosystem.
“Practically speaking, promoters or migration agents (including their employees/partners), especially those in the United States requiring proper securities registration, will not only be deemed non‑compliant but will also be committing enforcement‑grade fraud that can end their participation and jeopardize the investor petitions relying on them,” he said.
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