{"id":55860,"date":"2019-07-26T11:09:08","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T15:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/?p=55860"},"modified":"2019-07-26T14:08:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T18:08:04","slug":"higher-investment-requirements-and-stricter-regional-centre-rules-coming-as-dhs-approves-new-eb-5-visa-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/higher-investment-requirements-and-stricter-regional-centre-rules-coming-as-dhs-approves-new-eb-5-visa-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Investment Requirements and Stricter Regional Centre Rules Coming as DHS Approves New EB-5 Visa Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Homeland\u00a0Security\u00a0(DHS)\u00a0has published the final rules\u00a0modifying\u00a0the\u00a0US EB-5 visa\u00a0program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0initial\u00a0Notice of\u00a0Proposed\u00a0Rule making (NPRM)\u00a0was first\u00a0published\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Federal\u00a0Register on\u00a0January 13, 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes will take effect from November 21, 2019, and will see the most important changes to the EB-5 visa program in nearly 30 years.  These changes include an increase in minimum investment, centralized designation of Targeted Employment Areas (TEA), and retention of earliest priority date for an EB-5 applicant compelled to file multiple I-526 petitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes to <\/strong>the<\/strong> <\/strong>Investment Require<\/strong>ment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Category<\/strong><\/td>Current<\/strong><\/td>New Rule<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
 <\/td> <\/td> <\/td><\/tr>
Enterprises not located Targeted Employment Areas<\/td>$1 million<\/td>$1.8 million<\/td><\/tr>
TEA Projects<\/td>$500,000<\/td>$900,000<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Further, the new rules provide for regular five-year review of the minimum investment limits for adjustment for inflation. Going ahead, investors may face increased investment requirements, when five-year inflation rates are factored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes to Ta<\/strong>rgeted Employment Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Changes related to Targeted Employment Areas under the EB-5 program include:\u2022 States shall no longer have the authority to designate TEAs. The DHS will be the sole designating authority for TEAs. \u2022 Centralization of designation of TEAs means the various state-specific parameters and benchmarks shall be replaced by a uniform national parameter. \u2022 Cities and towns with a population in excess of 20,000 can be designated as a high-unemployment area only if located outside a Metropolitan Statistical Area(MSA). This is a significant change which means TEA projects cannot be setup in upscale localities of big cities through gerrymandering.\u2022 Only census tract(s) directly adjacent to the tract(s) in which the New Commercial Enterprise is operational can be considered for the purpose of designation of TEAs. Again, this change is aimed at restricting the practice of gerrymandering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes to Priority Date Ret<\/strong>entio<\/strong>n<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As per existing rules, an investor compelled to file a new petition post approval of his\/her I-526 petition does not retain the priority date and faces a significantly longer waiting period for a green card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the new rule, an investor\u00a0will retain\u00a0the\u00a0priority date\u00a0except\u00a0when\u00a0revocation of approval\u00a0takes place due to investor\u2019s fraud or\u00a0willful\u00a0representation or due to a material error by\u00a0the\u00a0investor.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this entitlement does not extend to investors who have entered the US as a conditional permanent resident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact of the\u00a0Changes<\/strong>\u2022\u00a0A likely surge in EB-5 filings until\u00a0November 21st<\/sup>\u00a02019, as investors scramble to qualify under the\u00a0existing lower\u00a0investment limit.\u00a0\u2022\u00a0Increase in backlog and consequent\u00a0increase\u00a0in adjudication and processing time for\u00a0EB-5 investors filing after the new rules come into effect on November\u00a021.\u2022\u00a0A\u00a0likely fall in\u00a0filings in\u00a0Fiscal Year 2020\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0higher investment requirement\u00a0comes into force.\u2022\u00a0Increase in number of rural EB-5 projects since investors no longer have the option of\u00a0investing in TEA projects in urban areas\u00a0located in\u00a0an\u00a0MSA.\u2022\u00a0Increased\u00a0risk for investors who\u00a0will have to\u00a0identify viable projects that will fulfill all\u00a0operational\u00a0and job-creation requirements\u00a0till the\u00a0end of\u00a0the\u00a0period of conditional permanent residence in the US.\u00a0\u2022\u00a0Increased investor interest in\u00a0the\u00a0Quebec Immigrant Investor Program, which offers a simpler and\u00a0less risky\u00a0route to permanent residence in a developed country.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the possibility of further changes and reforms by lawmakers, EB-5 investors will face an uncertain future ahead, even following November 21, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Homeland\u00a0Security\u00a0(DHS)\u00a0has published the final rules\u00a0modifying\u00a0the\u00a0US EB-5 visa\u00a0program. The\u00a0initial\u00a0Notice of\u00a0Proposed\u00a0Rule making (NPRM)\u00a0was first\u00a0published\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Federal\u00a0Register on\u00a0January 13, 2017.\u00a0 The changes will take effect from November 21, 2019, and will see the most important changes to the EB-5 visa program in nearly 30 years.  These changes include an increase in minimum investment, centralized designation of Targeted Employment Areas (TEA), and retention of earliest priority date for an EB-5 applicant compelled to file multiple I-526 petitions.  Changes to the Investment Requirement Category…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6,347,454],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Visa-Backlog_92336451.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8hnWW-ewY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}