The EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program was due to sunset in September of 2012, however, congress overwhelmingly voted to extend the Program for another three years and this extension was eagerly signed by the President. Early indications are that this Program will be around for a long time.
EB-5 visas are still being issued. The EB-5 program was extended for an additional three years until September 2015. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.
There are 10,000 EB-5 visas issued each year.Currently they are available. The first step is for the investor to file the investor petition with the USCIS. The filing if the investor petition establishes the priority date of the investor who is put into the waiting line. Today, once the investor petition is approved then immediately the investor can file an application for conditional permanent residency. If there are too many investors filing petitions then the waiting period becomes longer.Hence upon the approval of the investors first petition, the investor may not be able to file the application for conditional permanent residency immediately but rather later.
Yes, but there is a substantial slowdown in USCIS adjudication of I-526 petitions for new EB-5 investment projects. Speculation is that the tenant occupancy issue is still being considered by USCIS.
No, this is not accurate. EB-5 Regional Center Program is extended to September 30, 2015. Do not hesitate to contact our office should you have further questions.
Yes, EB-5 visas are now being issued. The EB-5 regional center program was set to expire on Sept 30, 2012. However, the EB-5 regional center program has been extended until Sept 30, 2015.
Yes. On September 28th, President Obama signed S. 3245 which ratifies the three year reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program which solidifies the program until September 30, 2015. To clarify, there are two ways that you can make an EB-5 investment, either through the regional center program or through a direct investment into a standing alone business (also called ''direct EB-5'' or ''individual EB-5''). For the latter option, no reauthorization is needed.
Yes, they are still being issued. That date was in conjunction to the expiration of the pilot program that applied only to regional centers, and not EB-5 generally. The regional center program has been extended, so it never expired.
Yes I-526s are still being approved, and immigrant visas based on the I-526 are still being issued.
Jinhee Wilde
Immigration Attorney
Answered on
The legislation to continue the EB-5 program was extended by Congress for 3 years last year. Thus, yes, the EB-5 immigrant visas are still being issued. However, due to a significant increase in this program and number of applicants nearly quadrupling in 2 years, the State Department that monitors the number of Visa quota predicts that the Cap will be reached middle of this year. So, anyone who is interested in applying for I-526 through EB-5 should do so quickly.
Yes, they are. The EB-5 pilot program, which covers only the regional center EB-5 cases, was set to expire in Sep 2012. The program was reauthorized for three years. The basic, individual EB-5 law, is a permanent law and does not expire.
Yes, on September 28, 2012, President Obama signed S. 3245 which ratified the three (3) year reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program. This reauthorization was passed by the House of Representatives in a vote of 412-3 earlier in the month. The EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program enables U.S. business entities known as Regional Centers to utilize capital from foreign investors to create American jobs.
September 30, 2012 was the sunset date for the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program (not the entire EB-5 Program). Had the Program ended then, visas would not be issued thereafter in reliance upon it. Given the importance of the Regional Center Program, due to larger projects needing to count indirect job creation (only permissible with regional center sponsorship) to reach the totals to clear all investors, there was much concern about what was seen as the impending death of the Program. Happily, the Regional Center Program was renewed by Congress just prior to that expiry date, and now has an extended lease on life, until September 30,