In a lawsuit filed by the Regional Center against the Department of Homeland Security a few days ago, the Northern District Court of California finally ruled to reverse the EB5 reform plan passed in November 2019 (the Modernization Rule, a modernization bill that raised the investment amount to 90/1.8 million US dollars), which means that the minimum EB5 investment amount is returned to 500,000 US dollars.
However, the current EB5 Regional Center Act is set to expire on June 30, which means that the ruling will also take effect until June 30, 2021.
More applicants are more concerned about what Congress will do after the EB5 Regional Center Act expires than whether the EB5 investment can continue to be maintained at $500,000.
At present, the July schedule released by the State Council also mentions that the issuance of overseas EB5 visas will be suspended until the new extension is announced.
Since its introduction in 1990, the EB5 program has undergone more than 20 extensions and has been extended as part of the State Department or Homeland Security Agency's financial budget, along with the annual budget.
At the end of 2020, however, the EB5 Regional Center Act was not automatically extended to the following fiscal year (i.e., 9.30) as usual, but was extended separately to June 30, 2021, with a law signed by Trump.
The reason why it was not postponed to September 30 of the following year with the budget as usual was because Senator Grasseley tried to force the EB5 reform plan to be introduced as soon as possible.
At present, there are various voices and opinions on the EB5 Act, and there are now three related bills in the legislative process of Congress:
The United States Citizenship Act 2021, endorsed by President Biden
EB–5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2021, a bipartisan supportive proposal submitted to Congress by Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, submitted to Congress
To reauthorize the EB-5 Regional Center, proposed by Rep. Greg Stanton, Democrat of Arizona, and Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, to reauthorize the EB-5 Regional Center Program in order to prevent fraud and to promote and reform foreign capital investment and job creation in American communities）
At present, combined with various factors, the industry predicts that there is a greater chance that the EB5 Interim Act will be extended for half a year again, and the content will remain unchanged. At the same time, it is not excluded that the bill will be temporarily extended to September 30, continuing to ride the budget for the new fiscal year.
In short, whether it is an extension or a reform, the suspension of EB5 is only temporary, and applicants who are still waiting in the waiting period still need to be patient.