Until the formation last year of the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA), no single organization existed to effectively advocate on behalf of EB-5 investors.
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit was founded in 2021 by four immigrant investors to provide a voice and representation on behalf of EB-5 investors just as congressional leaders failed to reauthorize the EB-5 program last summer.
The program allows foreigners who invest a certain amount of capital into a U.S. enterprise that creates American jobs to apply for permanent residency. When the program sunsetted on July 1, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which administers the program, put investors’ green card applications on hold.
“For the past nine months, tens of thousands of immigrant investors, who have invested in the U.S. economy in good-faith, have been in limbo,” Rajvir Batra, AIIA’s director of policy, wrote Homeland Preparedness News in an email.
AIIA stepped up, got involved with congressional leaders, and finally, on March 15, President Joe Biden signed into law a sweeping government omnibus spending bill that includes authority for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program through Sept. 30, 2027.
“We are delighted that Congress was finally able to reach an agreement on reauthorizing the EB-5 Regional Center program,” said Batra. “This reauthorization means that USCIS and the Department of State can resume processing of their cases again.
“While we wish this lapse had never happened, it is great to see bipartisan support in Congress for immigrant investors,” he said.
Since before the lapse of the EB-5 Regional Center program in July 2021, Batra said that AIIA has been consistently pushing for the Foreign Investor Fairness Protection Act (FIFPA), a provision that would grandfather in all investors who invested in the program at the time it was authorized.
“We have been working extensively with the relevant congressional offices and other EB-5 stakeholders to include our investor protection language in the omnibus,” he said, noting that the new Division BB, Section 108 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 addresses AIIA concerns.
Specifically, Section 108 ensures that all existing investors, and all future investors who file their immigrant petitions on or before Sept. 30, 2026, will be permanently protected from any future lapses of the EB-5 program.
The provision also directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department to immediately resume processing of all pending cases.
Batra said that U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), their staff, and members of the EB-5 industry worked with AIIA “to get this done.”
“Over the next few months, we will be working on ensuring that USCIS is faithfully implementing the spirit of the law,” added Batra.
USCIS has 60 days from the bill’s enactment to formulate and publish new regulations to implement the reformed EB-5 Regional Center program, said Batra, adding that AIIA is currently reviewing the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, the Grassley-Leahy bill included in the omnibus that runs more than 100 pages and significantly reforms the regional center program.
“We are currently in the process of scrutinizing this bill to ensure that we are able to protect the interests of existing investors during the government’s rulemaking process,” he said.
Some of the bill’s highlights, according to Batra, are the increased minimum investment amounts to participate in the program, which have increased from $500,000 and $1 million to $800,000 and $1.05 million for Targeted Employment Areas (TEA) and non-TEAs, respectively.
Regarding integrity measures, the included bill significantly increases federal oversight of regional centers.
“Some of these measures include a crackdown on TEA gerrymandering, increased certification and reporting requirements, increased transparency for investors, background checks on people involved in these regional centers, establishment of the EB-5 Integrity Fund, etc.,” wrote Batra.
And while AIIA is happy to see the new integrity measures — as well as its grandfathering language — addressed with the reauthorization, the organization is disappointed that Congress was not able to agree on provisions that would address the current visa backlog, unreasonable processing times, and dependents aging-out, said Batra.
“In addition to benefiting immigrant investors, we believe that solving these issues will serve as a catalyst to boost investment and create jobs in the United States — especially in American communities that are in dire need of it,” he said.
Other bill highlights include visa set-asides for rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure projects, as well as a provision that allows U.S.-based EB-5 investors to file a green card application (I-485 adjustment of status application) with their initial immigrant petition, as long as they have a visa immediately available to them, according to Batra.
“A lot depends on how USCIS interprets and implements the statute over the next 60 days,” he said. “We are particularly concerned about the provisions setting aside visas for new investors, and hope to engage with DHS and other stakeholders on this and other areas of concern.”
Batra said AIIA looks forward to “working tirelessly to ensure better treatment of immigrant investors, whether in the form of targeted EB-5 relief, or in concert with other immigrant advocacy organizations who are working to uphold America’s promise as a nation of immigrants.”