How will CPI affect the minimum EB-5 investment amount in 2016?

The required investment amounts will be determined by immigration regulations and policies. Currently, there are no changes in the investment requirements.

At this time, this is speculative. Current law is $500,000 for TEA investments and $1 million for non-TEA investments.

Truthfully, your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes Congress makes a law and sometimes a Memorandum from the director becomes the law.

We have no idea what the amount will be or if and when this change will happen.

Currently policy is the $500,000/$1 million investment for TEA/non-TEA. I understand that matching the investment amount to the Consumer Price Index has been proposed in 2013, but it does not seem that such a change is on its way. If such a change does occur, it seems unlikely that it would be retroactive, so a $500,000 investment made today will still be sufficient even if it jumps to $750,000 or $850,000 in the future.

Because CPI fluctuates, it will be hard to estimate at this point what dollar value that may add to the EB-5 program if they decide to take that approach at all. Also, this being an election year, most of the discussions we hear are speculations and posturing. However, as the current EB-5 legislation is to sunset next year, we do need to monitor discussions carefully. Sites such as EB5investors.com and experienced lawyers who respond to the questions on this site will be keeping an eye on the developments in the upcoming months.

At present, the minimum investment amount is not affected by changes in the consumer price index (CPI). Under current law, only unemployment rates can affect whether a location is a Targeted Employment Area (TEA). The USCIS will accept a location as a TEA if its unemployment rate is at least 150 percent of the national average, as of the date the I-526 is filed. If the unemployment rate goes below 150 percent of the national average any time after, it does not affect your green card process (I-526 approval, Green card issuance, I-829). Until some immigration law has actually passed both houses of Congress, it is not worth the effort to plan for some proposed change in the EB-5 law.