An EB-5 industry stakeholder group has submitted a letter to the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees outlining measures to reform the program before it expires September 30, 2019. Firstly, it suggests a six-year reauthorization.
Beyond that, the noteworthy recommendations include increasing investment amounts to $800,000 for a Target Employment Area (TEA) and $900,000 for a non-TEA. Another key point that addresses the program’s “gerrymandering” criticism is to limit TEA boundaries to a single census tract. TEA projects would receive “set-asides” of 15% for rural areas and 15% for urban-distressed areas. Investors with TEA projects would receive expedited processing.
Another major point looks to alleviate the huge backlog of EB-5 green card applicants: not counting spouses and children of investors against the 10,000 annual visa cap. Only counting investors themselves could mean issuing roughly three times the yearly number of EB-5 Green Cards the world currently receives.
Read the industry stakeholder letter
EB-5 expert Suzanne Lazicki has written a comprehensive analysis of the TEA set-aside proposal, including how it would be a “disaster” for Indian investors. Read Lazicki’s blog
