The Federal government’s Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) is involved in rolling out all new regulations.  The OMB has advanced the estimated issuance of new EB-5 rules from April to February.

Rumors say the new rules will:

• Increase the investment amount;
• Move Target Employment Area (lower investment area) determinations from the states to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. I predict this will substantially increase the time to obtain TEA designations. Today the states issue TEA letters, often in a matter of days;
• Shift portability of priority dates.

There will be a 60-day grace period for implementation of all new EB-5 rules. 

Regardless of when (or if) the new rules become effective, the EB-5 criteria will never again be as they are today. There is a fairly high chance that both processing times and minimum investment amounts will increase in the near future. Investors should consider filing EB-5 applications (Form I-526) as soon as possible under the current EB-5 rules.

We expect to see continuing changes in EB-5 as USCIS finalizes plans and Congress continues to work on a longer term legislative solution. For that reason, we suggest that anyone looking to obtain an EB-5 visa reach out for a consultation.