Dear Subscriber,

We are pleased to announce that the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program has been extended to December 21, 2018, with the minimum required investment amount remaining at $500,000.

Since the Republicans have lost control of the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, it will be more difficult for the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Chuck Grassley, to push through the changes to the EB-5 program that he and his counterpart, Bob Goodlatte, the current House Judiciary Committee Chairman, have jointly been pushing for, which would include an increase in the minimum required investment amount, along with implementing other restrictions that he considers important for "restoring integrity" to the EB-5 program, through the legislative process.

The main danger now is that USCIS will increase the investment amount and impose other restrictions that Senator Grassley favors through regulations. As I have mentioned in previous postings, I believe that Senator Grassley, whose former staff member, Lee Francis Cissna, is now the Director of USCIS and is amenable to his influence, and has reiterated, during testimony before Congress, his and USCIS's commitment to implement those proposed regulations. The USCIS regulations would drastically increase the minimum required investment amount to $1.35 million. The regulations would also redefine the designation of targeted employment areas to be much more restrictive than it currently is, which would have the effect of disqualifying many areas that would currently qualify for the minimum required investment amount, and so many areas will require an investment of $1.8 million. The only surprise has been the amount of self-restraint that USCIS has shown in preparing the regulations and in holding back on implementing them. As recently as November 19, 2018, USCIS held a stakeholder meeting in which they solicited ideas and feedback from the stakeholders. It seems that USCIS is being cautious not to be seen as too much under Congressional influence and as not too abruptly foisting the new regulations on the EB-5 industry without soliciting the stakeholders' input. The bottom line is that USCIS is still moving forward with the regulations, and we do not know exactly when they will implement them. I believe, however, that this level of caution and restraint on USCIS's part indicate that they would be cautious enough not implement the new rules too abruptly, but would probably allow for a transition period so that the EB-5 regional centers will be able to fill up their existing projects before the minimum required investment amount and rules for designating targeted employment areas, which qualify for the minimum required investment amount. USCIS will probably not impose any new regulations before the end of the year, and so there will probably be another extension period of a month or two without change before USCIS imposes the new regulations.

The bottom line for prospective EB-5 investors is that, the only certainty that we have is that the EB-5 program has been extended to December 21, 2018, with the current minimum required investment amount of $500,000. USCIS will probably not impose any new regulations before the end of 2018, and so we will probably have at least one more extension period without change before any new regulations are impose by USCIS that would increase the minimum required investment amount to $1.35 million. While you might not need to rush to meet the December 21, 2018, deadline, nevertheless, it would be wise to invest and file the I-526 petition as soon as possible, since we might have only one more extension period before USCIS implements its proposed regulations. 

Sincerely,

Anthony Olson
Attorney