In recent weeks our office has been getting a number of inquiries into the EB-5 program. We thought this would be a good opportunity to review some recent information related to the program.
As many of you are aware, EB-5 is an immigration investor visa program that was created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It grants lawful permanent residence to foreign nationals who invest $1 million into a U.S. business that either creates or preserves ten American jobs.
There are other components to EB-5, such as a $500,000 category for investment into so-called Regional Centers, Targeted Employment Area (TEA) areas where unemployment is at least 150 percent the national average, or in rural areas. In recent years much of the EB-5 visas have been centered around the real estate industry, but the visas impact other industries such as clean technology and finance.
The Department of Homeland Security this year announced a series of changes related to policy and operation. The stated goal was to try and provide a boost to the nation's struggling economy. Several programs were impacted, including H-1B, EB-2 and EB-5.
With respect to EB-5, the changes made by DHS were related to intake and review.
A criticism of EB-5 in the past has been the time it takes for completion of procedures related to application. To that end the DHS said in August it planned to overhaul the intake and review process.
The availability of "premium processing" for certain petitions will be increased under the new policy, as well as introducing "direct lines of communication between the applicants and USCIS." The DHS also is planning to allow applicants the opportunity to interview before a panel of experts capable of quickly resolving any issues with the petition. The goal is to shrink a process which historically can take upwards of six months down to just a matter of weeks.
If this can be achieved, all of us in the legal community would welcome the change. Expediting and streamlining of the process is a positive goal.
