On Sept. 8, nearly a month ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline, the EB-5 Regional Center Program was extended to Dec. 8, as part of H.R.601. While the extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Program is a welcome development, yet another short-term extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Program leaves the EB-5 immigration community to wonder what changes may be brought by future legislation and how the requirements for participation in the EB-5 Regional Center Program will be updated and, presumably, augmented.
Under the EB-5 visa category, immigrant investors who satisfy statutory and regulatory requirements are able to invest $1 million (or $500,000 in targeted employment area (TEA)) in a new commercial enterprise that will employ 10 full-time U.S. workers, allowing the immigrant investors to obtain conditional permanent residence for two years. Investors’ conditional residence can be made permanent upon demonstration at the end of the two years that the investment proceeds have not been withdrawn and the requisite jobs have been created. The investor may decide to invest in his own business and create jobs directly through that business, or to invest in a “regional center.” Regional centers are government-approved entities in designated geographical areas which sponsor projects through pooled investments from several EB-5 investors, resulting in the creation of direct, indirect and induced jobs for U.S. workers.
