On Oct. 22, 2018, the court certified the class-action
lawsuit on a provisional basis. This means that if the court
orders relief, it will benefit affected EB-5 investors on a
class-wide basis. The government’s counting policy is a prime example of a
mistake hiding in plain sight. Now that it has been spotted,
hopefully the courts will order the government to remedy it
and begin following the law.
On Dec. 6, the preliminary injunction was denied by the
court on De Counsel for the plaintiffs will next seek a
permanent order, with a strong possibility of filing an
appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit if the district court judge rules against the
plaintiffs in the permanent order. Ira Kurzban
WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN
If the court agrees with ALC and the Chinese investors who
filed suit, it will have enormous benefits. Thousands of
visa numbers that were erroneously consumed by spouses
and children, who should not be subject to the annual cap
would be made available to EB-5 investors. This would
reduce, or possibly eliminate, the EB-5 backlog, revitalizing
the industr y and enabling investors to achieve their
immigration goals in a reasonable timeframe. That, in turn,
would help the EB-5 program accomplish what congress
intended – creating new jobs for American workers.
The benefits for the many affected families would also be
enormous. EB-5 investors have spent considerable time,
effort, and money to prepare for their immigration to the
U.S. Under the current backlogs, these efforts may yield
no benefits for a decade or more – causing the investors
considerable financial and emotional hardship. Worse
yet, under the current backlog hundreds or thousands
of investors’ children stand to “age out” of eligibility to
immigrate to the U.S. because EB-5 visa numbers do not
become available before the investors’ children turn 21.
As a result, these investors face the impossible choice of
abandoning their immigration dreams of immigrating to
the U.S. and leaving their children behind. A court victory
could end these considerable hardships for countless
investor families.
is a founding partner
of Kurzban, Kurzban, Tetzeli & Pratt P.A.
Considered one of the country’s leading
immigration attorneys, Kurzban has been
extensively involved in the EB-5 program
since its inception. He was lead counsel in
Chang v. U.S., the most significant decision
to date involving the EB-5 program. He is
currently litigating a wide variety of EB-5
cases on behalf of immigrant investors and
regional centers. Kurzban also advises many regional centers on
complex EB-5 compliance issues.
John Pratt
is a partner at Kurzban,
Kurzban, Tetzeli & Pratt P.A. Pratt received
his J.D. from Tulane University. He is AV
Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is Florida
Bar board certified in immigration and
nationality law. He concentrates in all
areas of immigration and nationality law,
including corporate immigration matters,
employment-based immigrant and non-
immigrant petitions, deportation or removal
defense in EB-5 and all other contexts, and federal court litigation,
including complex EB-5-related matters.
Edward Ramos obtained his J.D. from
Yale Law School. He is a senior associate
with the firm. Ramos specializes in federal
litigation of complex immigration matters,
including challenges to EB-5 petition denials
and regional center termination decisions.
John Shen
is an industry pioneer and
advocate of deployment of EB-5 capital
through the senior loan structure under U.S.
government loan programs. He founded
American Lending Center in 2009, received
the regional center designation in April 2010
and California finance lenders license seven
months later. Since 2015, Shen has led ALC
to become one of the most dominant non-
bank lenders of new hospitality projects
under SBA 504. In 2017, Shen won the Coleman SBA 504 Lender of
the Year Award for being a best small business lender in SBA 504.
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EB5 INVESTORS M AGAZINE