Preparing for Spring

China has been the big EB-5 market. With Chinese New Year on February 8^th, business in China is now quiet. This is the time for Regional Centers and developers to finish their projects and prepare their materials for the new EB-5 season.

Last year, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said that if Congress does not do so, the USCIS would raise the minimum investment from $500,000 to $800,000. The bills proposing to increase the amount failed and the EB-5 statute was extended to September 30, 2016.

For the administration to raise the amount by regulation, USCIS must publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register and take comments from the public. Thus it takes a few months to make a rule. The government also issues a notice of the intended rule’s publishing, and there is nothing currently about a raised EB-5 investment amount.

However, Nicholas Colucci, head of USCIS’s EB-5 Program, stated at a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on EB-5 today that a raise in the investment amount will be included in a regulation USCIS is currently putting together. The consensus is that the investment amount will go up to a minimum of $800,000 this year. Thus, it will probably save investors $300,000 to invest now.

I will report more on today’s Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing shortly.

Martin Speaking

I will be speaking at the following upcoming events:

• Los Angeles County Bar Association – EB-5 Conference (February 13, 2016)
• University of San Francisco – Work Visas, Employment and EB-5 Based Green Cards (February 29, 2016)
• San Francisco State University – H-1B/U.S. Permanent Residency (March 1, 2016)
• University of San Francisco – H-1B Info Session (March 2, 2016)

Processing Times

An I-924 we filed for a new Regional Center was granted in about 9 months, and an I-526 for a direct investor was granted right at the average processing time of 15 months.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Martin