To the surprise of most, Congress will pass a clean extension of the current EB-5 Regional Center program to September 30, 2016.

For now, there will be no changes to the TEA rules, $500,000 investment amount or other EB-5 criteria.

On April 27, 2015, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson wrote to Senator Grassley, stating that if Congress did not increase the TEA investment from $500,000 to $800,000, the USCIS would do so by regulation. We will now see what DHS does. It takes months for regulations to be published. USCIS may also make some other changes by policy memo and practice that were proposed by the recent bill.

There has been a lot of lobbying on all sides including yours truly, and a fight between the rural and urban areas about where to encourage development. All sides will now regroup and renew efforts in the spring and summer to pass a longer extension.

Have a good holiday.

Yours truly,

Martin