How could the H.R. 1044 bill impact EB-5 investors? - EB5Investors.com

How could the H.R. 1044 bill impact EB-5 investors?

How might the approval of the H.R. 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019, affect EB-5 investors in visa backlogs and EB-5 investors whose I-526s are yet to be adjudicated? It proposes to eliminate the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas.

Answers

Fredrick W Voigtmann

Fredrick W Voigtmann

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

The passage of HR 1044 is only one requirement for the bill/proposal to become law. It, or something like it, would have to be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by the President. It is unlikely that this will happen, but we will see now that the new rules have been published and will become effective 11/21/2019. The rule requires a $900,000 minimum investment (and placed new requirements and restrictions on TEA designations), so if you are planning on making an EB-5 investment under the existing rules, you should act quickly.

A Olusanjo Omoniyi

A Olusanjo Omoniyi

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

The potential impacts of H.R.1044 bill remain unknown and any comments at this time would be mere speculations. In fact, Senator Rand Paul has put a hold on the bill while its socio-political and economic implications are being debated. The best advice is that everybody should simply stay tune until the bill becomes law and its details are known.

Julia Roussinova

Julia Roussinova

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

This law must pass both the House and the Senate to be enacted. It does not look like it will be passed yet.

Salvatore Picataggio

Salvatore Picataggio

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

From what I have heard hypothesized, it could create a green card wait time for more countries, while lowering the wait time for the most active green card applicants from India and China. I have read also that many immigration attorneys actually oppose the bill. They think it''s good in theory, but not in execution.

Charles Foster

Charles Foster

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Should H.R. 1044 be passed, not only in the House of Representatives, but in the U.S. Senate as well, and signed by the President of the United States, it could have a substantial negative effect on EB-5 investors from countries that are not currently subject to the cap. While eliminating the 7% cap for employment-based immigration may help petitioners from China, and possibly India and Vietnam, that are subject to visa retrogression, given the fact that there are so many approved EB-5 petitions for Chinese nationals, it will inadvertently cause a retrogression for all other EB-5 applicants, while approving the wait-time for Chinese applicants. However, as of this time, there is no certainty whether or not H.R. 1044 will become law.

Hassan Elkhalil

Hassan Elkhalil

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

The bill is not final yet. The bill must still go through the Senate. The end product may have many changes. As it stands now, I do not think it will affect the EB-5 applicants.

Bernard P Wolfsdorf

Bernard P Wolfsdorf

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Assuming it is passed (so far it only passed the House) as there are at least two "holds" placed on the Senate bill S386 equivalent, so its not likely to pass this year, but if it passes, it would get rid of the 7% per country limit thus greatly benefiting China, Vietnam and India but negatively impacting other non-retrogressed countries. The top two countries in terms of usage, China and Vietnam cannot get more than 85% of visas in year one, nor more than 90% in year two and three. However, there is a provision in both bills that protects those already in line. We are not yet sure if this includes all pending cases, or only those with approved petitions. While I would watch carefully, I would not be happy or sad yet, because it is highly controversial and it is by no means clear that it will pass the Senate, or get White House support.

Lynne Feldman

Lynne Feldman

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

This just means that some of the backlogged countries will not be so backlogged and the pain will be spread more evenly. This is not close to being law yet.

Marko Issever

Marko Issever

EB-5 Broker Dealers
Answered on

It will undoubtedly help those who were born in countries with visa backlogs and hurt significantly others who are processing current right now. If it passes and becomes law, the effect for applicants with pending I-526 petitions who were hoping to get a conditional green card in a couple of years could be horrific. I wonder how the Congress could pass such a law that effectively penalizes, retroactively, investors who already have a pending application.

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