News & Analysis as of

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Foreign Investment

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a federal agency under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. The USCIS... more +
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a federal agency under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. The USCIS performs a broad variety of administrative functions, including processing visa and naturalization petitions, as well as applications for asylum and refugee status.  less -
Akerman LLP

USCIS Fee Increases Are Imminent: The Concurrent Adjustment Clock is Ticking for Indian and Chinese Investors

Akerman LLP on

Thanks to a final rule recently announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), filing fees are about to increase on April 1, 2024, and filers who fail to make haste will end up paying more, or risk...more

Freiberger Haber LLP

Enforcement News: SEC Brings Enforcement Action in Connection EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program

Freiberger Haber LLP on

In July of this year, we wrote about a fraud action involving the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (“EB-5 Program” or “Program”) (here). Under the EB-5 Program, investors are eligible for permanent residency status in the U.S....more

Baker Donelson

Keeping EB-5 Regional Centers Alive

Baker Donelson on

EB-5 regional centers approved before the enactment of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) have been given new clarity and mercy about the new Integrity Fee, but they remain in limbo about filing I-956 amendments...more

Burr & Forman

Alternative Financing Sources for Developers: EB-5 And E-2 Investors

Burr & Forman on

The EB-5 immigrant visa investor program has been used as an alternative source of funding for many real estate developers. EB-5 investors have typically preferred real estate related projects, and EB-5 capital has been used...more

Baker Donelson

Recent EB-5 Developments Weigh Heavily on Participants

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USCIS has issued meaningful new guidance about some important topics relating to the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA), i.e., the new $20,000 or $10,000 per year regional center (RC) integrity fee, USCIS...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USCIS Proposes Significant Fee Increases for Immigration Services; Will Impact U.S. Employers and Foreign Investors

Womble Bond Dickinson on

On January 4, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a Notice of Prospective Rulemaking proposing a sweeping fee hike for immigration services across the board. The proposed fee increases range between...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

EB-5 Program Changes Under Reform and Integrity Act

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program has gone through significant changes in 2022 due to the enactment of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA). Created in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and...more

Baker Donelson

Settlement Allows Previous EB-5 Regional Centers to Sponsor New Investors

Baker Donelson on

An agreement settling litigation against USCIS overturns its initial interpretation of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) and allows regional centers (RCs) that were designated before RIA enactment to sponsor new...more

Jackson Walker

EB-5 Regional Centers Temporarily Regain Authorization

Jackson Walker on

After Congress passed the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act in March 2022, USCIS announced that the act repealed the legacy Regional Center Program. Consequently, more than 600 existing regional centers were effectively...more

Jackson Walker

USCIS Requires Form I-956 for Regional Center Designation

Jackson Walker on

On April 29, 2022, USCIS held its EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 Listening Session and clarified that entities seeking to be designated as a regional center are required to file Form I-956, Application for Regional...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Returns

EB-5 Regional Center Program reauthorized as part of Omnibus Spending Bill - After having lapsed over the summer of 2021, the EB-5 Regional Center Program (“RC Program”) was reauthorized as part of the Omnibus Spending...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Congress Close to Raising the EB-5 Program from the Dead: 8 Recent EB-5 Reforms that Real Estate Developers and Project Sponsors...

In the evening hours of March 9, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $1.5 trillion spending bill that would fund the U.S. government through the rest of the fiscal year and provide $13.6 billion to respond to Russia’s...more

Jackson Walker

USCIS Retains $500,000 Minimum Investment Amount After Voluntary Dismissal of Behring Regional Center Appeal

Jackson Walker on

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on January 5, 2022, filed an unopposed motion to dismiss its August 2021 appeal to a district court ruling in Behring Regional Center LLC v. Chad Wolf, et al. The previous ruling...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Qualifying International Entrepreneurs Must Meet New Dollar Amounts Beginning October 2022

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

New dollar eligibility criteria for investment amounts, qualifying investors, and re-parole considerations under the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) will take effect on October 1, 2022. The Biden Administration...more

Jackson Walker

What Investors Need to Know About Lapsed Authorization for EB-5 Regional Center Program

Jackson Walker on

As of June 30, 2021, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program has lapsed, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has since rejected any submissions received on or after July 1, 2021, of the following...more

Jackson Walker

Judge Voids EB-5 Immigrant Investor Modernization Rule, Restoring Old Investment Amounts and Targeted Employment Area Standards

Jackson Walker on

On June 22, 2021, Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California ruled that Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan exceeded his statutory authority in issuing the July 2019...more

Baker Donelson

A Swirl of EB-5 Developments

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This week two major events occurred in the EB-5 investment visa program: (1) Congress failed to enact a law renewing the law authorizing regional centers and indirect investment and job creation, which expires June 30; and...more

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP

U.S. Immigration Developments - International Entrepreneurial Parole Rule

How It Will Help Foreign Entrepreneurs In The U.S.- On May 10, 2021, USCIS revived the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), announcing it was withdrawing a 2018 proposed rule to eliminate the IER in response to...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

EB-5 Enforcement on the Uptick

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program is one that attracts its fair share of attention, not all of it good, and too much of it from organizations named with that part of the alphabet — SEC and DOJ — that can strike fear in the...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

The Future Of EB-5 Investor Visa

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The EB-5 Investor Visa was created by an act of Congress in 1993, and it has proved to be a critical driver in American job creation since its inception. By some estimates, the program has brought in over $20.6 billion...more

Saul Ewing LLP

USCIS New Policy Guidelines for Managing EB-5 Visa Petition Inventory & Other Updates

Saul Ewing LLP on

Last week, USCIS issued significant Policy Guidelines concerning its stipulated attempt to address fairness concerns with coordinating I-526 petition adjudications with U.S. State Department visa allocations. ...more

Baker Donelson

USCIS Re-Prioritizes EB-5 I-526 Adjudication Based on Visa Number Availability: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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USCIS has been falling farther and farther behind on adjudication of EB-5 filings. Last week USCIS suddenly announced that, starting March 31, 2020, it will adjudicate first I-526 petitions from investors for whom a visa...more

Saul Ewing LLP

EB-5: Status Update

Saul Ewing LLP on

For the past 4 weeks, the EB-5 industry has been anxiously awaiting the status of the pending complaint filed in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia by a Florida regional center against USCIS and...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

New EB-5 Program Regulations Take Effect

Morrison & Foerster LLP on

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule on July 24, 2019, that makes a number of significant changes to its EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (“EB-5 Program”). These new rules are designed to...more

Stinson LLP

EB-5 Immigrant Investment Program Regulatory and Judicial Update

Stinson LLP on

On November 21, 2019, the EB-5 "Immigrant Investor Program Modernization" became effective. This is the first significant EB-5 regulatory change instituted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) since 1993....more

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