After a tense and exciting week, the boots finally landed successfully. On March 9, the EB-5 Reform Act successfully hitched a ride on the 2022 Federal Budget. On March 11, both houses voted and passed at 68:31. On March 15, after some technical adjustments, it was handed over to President Biden for signature. At this point, the 8-month-long EB-5 reform bill is formally enacted.
The president signed the scene
Since the draft came out, the discussion in the industry has not stopped. However, because the IMMIGRATION has not yet given specific operational guidelines, we can only see the future direction from the general framework of the bill, and the details of the actual operation still need a little time to explore.
About the effective time
Recently, many investors have asked this question, is it possible for Biden to sign this new bill to take effect? Is my I-526 petition immediately resumable? Is the interview ready to restart right away? If you want to invest in a new project, can you submit an application?
We looked at the full text of the bill and among all the EB-5 provisions, there are indeed 2 effective dates:
1) The bill shall take effect immediately after it is signed and confirmed;
2) The bill shall enter into force 60 days after it has been signed and confirmed.
The former appears in most of the provisions, while the latter relates to whether the regional center can comply with the compliance of the new law. So according to the meaning of the bill, the USCIS should follow the former in hearing the I-526 case and opening the interview, and resume it immediately. However, new program promotions and new I-526 petition submissions must be re-applied in accordance with the process before they can be initiated after meeting the relevant qualifications. The 60-day period is equivalent to a buffer period for the USCIS to issue more specific guidelines for the Regional Center to re-prepare the relevant documents for updating.
Of course, in fact, the fastest time using the USCIS can resume the work that has been stuck for 8 months before it is also In April, and there are two things we can focus on: the first is the USCIS announcement, the guidelines for further implementation of the bill, which should be elaborated; the other is the schedule dynamics of this month (no accident the visa office should announce this week), if the schedule comes out EB-5 priority days reappear, then there is a high probability that our investors will receive interview notices in April.
About visa reservations
The new policy does not adjust the total number of visa quotas, but refines the allocation principle. A 20 percent visa is set aside for investors investing in rural areas of the United States, 10 percent for investors in designated areas with high unemployment (most of whom are older investors), and another 2 percent for investors investing in infrastructure.
This year, because the quota of visas originally allocated to the EB-5 channel has doubled to nearly 20,000, the number of visa reservations is about 6,400. This policy is not only for new investors, but also for old investors. As long as the investment project meets the definition of the region, the reserved visa of this category can be used, of course, investors who exceed the quota can only continue to queue up in order of priority days.
We also look forward to further clarification in the official guidelines of the IMMIGRATION Department on how this policy will be implemented, such as whether the determination of the investment area follows the original TEA document or needs to be re-applied, and there is a question mark here.
Impact on investors
The New Deal actually made the EB-5 Regional Center program more transparent, with stricter regulations on the Regional Center and the projects it promotes, which must be initiated by an agency registered with the USCIS, and during the operation of the project, the Regional Center must not only disclose to the government departments the details of the payments received and the provision of services, but must also provide investors with annual statements indicating the capital situation and the progress of the project, and if they do not disclose, they will be punished. The background of the manager of the regional center is also restricted, and if there is a bad record in the past 10 years, it is not possible to participate in the regional center project. A good faith fund has also been added for on-site inspections, audits and fraud investigations of regional centres.
However, for new investors, the new EB-5 rules tend to be stricter on their source of funds, requiring longer tax records and disclosing the source of gift funds. To a certain extent, it is also to ensure that all parties involved can get the greatest security.