The
EB-5 immigrant investor program administered by the USCIS is – for the second
time this year – in need of congressional reauthorization in order to continue
to operate. Over the past 5 years, CiF has used the EB-5 program to raise $220
million for job creating, catalytic investment projects in the Greater
Cleveland area. However, if Congress does not renew the program on or before
December 11, 2015, the EB-5 program will lapse and CiF will no longer be able
to attract foreign investment capital to the area using EB-5.
In
light of the rapidly approaching reauthorization deadline, the EB-5 industry
trade group Invest in the USA (or IIUSA, of which CiF is a member) has crafted
a series of proposed compromises for the EB-5 program. These compromises address
the major areas of disagreement between various EB-5 stakeholders, in regards
to the kinds of reforms that should be included along with congressional
reauthorization of the EB-5 program.
These
recommendations were supported unanimously by IIUSA’s governing board and are
supported by a super majority of IIUSA members that responded to a member
survey. CiF also stands in support of the IIUSA compromise and hopes that
members of Congress will also realize the benefits of reauthorizing the EB-5
program.
Here
is a brief summary of what the IIUSA compromise covers:
- Targeted Employment Areas – a TEA would be defined as no more than 12 contiguous census tracts and zero-population subdivisions cannot be used to establish contiguous connections
- Minimum Investment Amount – The minimum investment amount for EB-5 projects within a TEA would be raised from $500,000 up to $800,000. The Non-TEA investment minimum would remain at $1,000,000
- Job Creation Methodologies – No change would be made to existing job creation methodologies, so that EB-5 can continue to be used to fill critical gaps in project financing
- Effective Dates / “Grandfathering” - for the sake of simplicity and fairness there would be no “grandfathering” of EB-5 investors. So, if the compromise is accepted and becomes law then the new investment minimums and TEA definitions would go into effect immediately. This further means that any EB-5 investors who have not yet filed their I-526 petitions prior to the law’s passage would be subject to the new law’s provisions, including the increased investment minimums.
