During the recent eight-month sunset of the Regional Center program (June 30, 2021, to March 15, 2022) which prohibited any new RC-based I-526 Petitions, some business promoters heavily marketed “Pooled Direct” investments as a currently available alternative EB-5 opportunity that could be filed with USCIS for $500,000. They would subscribe many EB-5 investors to a single New Commercial Enterprise and aggregate their capital to fund a new business venture, much like RC-based arrangements. Here, however, each Pooled Investor is required to create 10 direct full-time, permanent W-2 employees...
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 No Longer Allows "Pooled Direct" EB-5 programs
May 5, 2022December’s Visa Bulletin is Current for Chinese Nationals who filed a direct investment EB-5 petition
November 17, 2021The US Department of State published the December 2021 Visa Bulletin revealing some significant announcements. The non-regional center program will be current for all countries, Mainland China included. The EB-5 cut-off dates for Regional Center visa applicants is unchanged due to the lapse of the Regional Center Program.
This is the first time since the Spring of 2015, there will be no backlog in the EB-5 investor category for people born in Mainland China.”
No more backlog for direct EB-5 investors from Mainland China
Historically more than 90% of the EB-5 applications...
Court affirms the Department of State’s Policy to count dependents toward EB-5 visa cap
July 29, 2021The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that family members count toward a cap on visas. The ruling found that spouses and children of EB-5 investors must be included in the tally with the annua; 10,000 visas in the EB-5 program.
A panel of three judges dismissed the case of Chinese investors and their family members who claimed Congress intended family-member visas to be excluded in the 10,000 visas in the EB-5 program.
The D.C. Circuit affirmed that the Immigration and Nationality Act has required the State Department, since 1965, grant visa...