U . S . Rep . Jared Polis , D-Colo ., is building support in Congress for a bill to address the EB-5 visa backlog . He ’ s also exploring whether language could be inserted into proposed comprehensive immigration reform legislation after the presidential election in November to address the backlog .
“ Congress , unfortunately , imposed an arbitrary cap on the number of immigrant visas available and as a result the EB-5 program is only allowed 10 , 000 ,” Polis says . “ There is a backlog of EB-5 visa petitions , estimated at about 25,000 , that is a detriment to growing capital in our country and creating jobs that come along with those visas .”
One of the easiest ways to address the backlog is to change the way the cap is calculated . Congress set the cap of 10,000 visas in 1990 when it passed the Immigration Act of 1990 . Currently , both investors and each of their family members are counted when calculating the cap . However , a convincing argument can be made that Congress originally intended to limit the program to 10,000 investors annually — not 3,000-3,200 families as the cap is currently interpreted . As a result , each investor petition averages three visas currently . A simple change returning the meaning of the cap to Congress ’ original intent would quickly reduce the backlog .
“ We could recapture the hundreds of thousands of unused immigrant visas , we could simply increase the number of immigrant visas for the employment-based categories , or we can remove family members from under the 10,000 visa cap for EB-5 so they are not counted toward that ,” Polis says .
Experts say the U . S . should address this backlog as soon as possible to remain competitive globally . Throughout the world , from the Mediterranean island nations of Cyprus and Malta to Australia , Portugal , Spain and the United Kingdom , programs similar to EB-5 are increasing sharply in numbers .
“ I think it ’ s important to address this backlog really for the viability of the program overall ,” says Ginny Fang , chief executive officer at Golden Gate Global , a San Francisco-based immigrant investment regional center . “ EB-5 is one of many different options for investors around the world .
“ There obviously are similar programs in other countries , and I think with the backlog issue , if we push it to a point where the program is no longer attractive because the waits are so long , investors will simply look to other countries to invest in . EB-5 is an important way to attract foreign investment into the U . S . We should keep the program competitive and keep the waits reasonable for investors as they are considering a family decision to move to the U . S . and become permanent residents . Accordingly , we should make sure it ’ s a functioning program for them .”
As it stands , the U . S . is losing this competitive battle . In some countries , such as Cyprus , investors can obtain full Cypriot citizenship in as little as three months . Compare that to a six-year wait in the U . S ., and it ’ s not hard to understand why the number of EB-5 applications is dropping so rapidly .
The number of applications fell from more than 6,000 per quarter in recent years to 848 in the second quarter of 2016 ’ s fiscal year , according to USCIS EB-5 petition data . While there is no way to know conclusively at this point how big of a role the EB-5 visa backlog has played in this , common sense dictates it ’ s likely played a significant part .
25
EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE