Opinion by World Citizenship Council
Now that final rule is published modernizing the EB-5 program raising the minimum investment, EB-5 firms and regional centers may expect a huge last minute rush for EB-5.
There is a 120 day window for immigration firms to adjust to new regulations effective from Nov 21.
EB-5 is most popular in China, Vietnam, India, South Korea and influx of applications can be expected from these countries taking advantage of the $500,000 prevailing investment.
USCIS has published minimum investment amounts by filing date and investment location are:
| I-526 Petition Filing Date | Minimum Investment Amount – 8 CFR 204.6(f)(1). | Targeted Employment Area Investment Amount – 8 CFR 204.6(f)(2) | High-Employment Area Investment Amount – 8 CFR 204.6(f)(3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 11/21/2019 | $1,000,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 |
| On or After 11/21/2019 | $1,800,000 | $900,000 | $1,800,000 |
This is almost 80% increase from the $500,000 set by Congress in 1990’s and since remained the same. The new proposed changes in line with other investor visa schemes existing in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand
EB-5 will equally compete with citizenship and residence by investment schemes prevailing in Europe, Australia and Canada to attract HNW people seeking American dream.
Congress created the EB-5 Program (Green card) in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. EB-5 is capped at 10,000 visas annually and immigrant investors are expected to create atleast 10 jobs which one of the most important requirement.
In 1992, Congress created the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as the Regional Center Program. This sets aside EB-5 visas for participants who invest in commercial enterprises associated with regional centers approved by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth.
The annual Per Country Limit for 2019 approximately 705. The waiting times for chinese increased from 16.6 years (from 15 years). These are the waiting times for 2019 for the EB-5
- China – 16.5 years
- Vietnam – 7.6 years
- India – 8.4 years
- South Korea – 2.4 years
- Taiwan – 2 years
- Brazil – 1.6 years
USCIS received 6,424 I-526 petitions in 2018 only half of those received during the previous year. There are 13,000 pending petitions for eb-5 by the end of March 2019.
We expect with the new investment amounts coming into effect, the number of petitions may likely to fall, thus reducing the waiting times and processing times.
About
The World Citizenship Council (WCC) is a non-profit startup launched in 2018 for research and development of the Citizenship and residence by investment (CRBI) schemes with citizenship firms and experts in the industry as members.
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