stakeholders to come to a consensus on how to best
address reform for the EB-5 program. The most recent
draft was circulated by Senator John Cornyn’s office
in the first week of May 2017. Some of the provisions
to note, include: Minimum investment amount would
be $800,000 in TEA and $850,000 in non-TEA locations.
The TEA definition includes closed military bases,
distressed rural census tracts or distressed urban
census tracts.
A distressed rural census tract must include at least one
of the following: 1) poverty rate is at least 20 percent;
2) median family income of no more than 80 percent
of statewide median income; or 3) must not have more
than 100 people per square mile for 100 square miles.
A distressed urban census tract must meet all of the
following: 1) be inside a Metropolitan Statistical Area
(MSA); 2) census tract’s poverty rate is greater than 30
percent; 3) the median family income for the census tract
does not exceed 60 percent of the statewide median
income; and 4) the unemployment rate for the census
tract is at least 1.5 times the national average.
Regarding visa numbers, it eliminates dependent family
members from the EB-5 cap.
If legislation is passed in Congress and signed by
the president before the regulations are finalized, the
legislation’s provisions will govern. If the regulations
are finalized before legislation is passed, subsequent
legislation (if passed) will supersede the regulations.
The take-away is that while the EB-5 program has been
extended to Sept. 30, 2017, regulations or legislation may
reform the program as we know it before then.
Laura Foote Reiff
Laura Foote Reiff of Greenberg Traurig
focuses her practice on business
immigration laws and regulations
affecting U.S. and foreign companies,
as well as related employment
compliance and legislative issues. She serves as
Northern Virginia co-managing shareholder; co-chair
of Business Immigration and Compliance Practice;
and co-chair of Global Human Capital Solutions. She
performs I-9, H-1B and H-2B compliance inspections
and due diligence while defending a company against
a government investigation. She represents many
businesses in creating, managing and using Regional
Centers.
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