With the passage of the new federal funding bill, the EB-5 Regional Center Program will be authorized to continue until September 30, 2019.

No reforms have been made to the program. The newly elected congressional leaders, however, have expressed a more positive view of the program, so new reforms may be more likely to pass this year. One reform the program could desperately use is a change to the 10,000 visa cap to count only investors rather than investors and their family members.

The EB-5 Regional Center Program is a popular pathway to a family-sized batch of green cards for foreign investors who invest $500,000 into job-creating new commercial enterprises. Although the Direct EB-5 Program is permanent, the Regional Center Program has been needed frequent renewal since its creation. As the more popular of the two programs, the Regional Center Program has been extended for years by being attached to essential government funding bills.

Why is the EB-5 Regional Center Program more popular than the Direct Program? Investing in the Regional Center Program has the unique added benefit of letting investors count indirect and induced job creation as well as direct job creation, which makes fulfilling the program requirements easier. Additionally, investors in the Regional Center Program do not have to manage their project on a day to day basis and instead can take on a policy-making role to fulfill requirements. This means that investors do not need to live near their investment and can move to a U.S. city that appeals more to their needs, such as an area with top school districts for their children.

For more information about the EB-5 Regional Center Program reauthorization, send us a message.