Continued from page 23 Continued from page 23 in regional centers will be required to swear compliance and submit fingerprints to the FBI .
Terminations : The U . S . Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) may terminate regional center participation in the investor visa program if prohibited persons are involved in the centers , or if the centers provide false information in the context of background checks .
Securities compliance : The bills require regional centers to certify compliance with federal securities laws . USCIS could terminate or suspend regional centers for failure to make the necessary certifications , or for securities law violations .
Impact on the economy : Mandates a review of the impact of the program on the U . S . economy — is it creating jobs and really encouraging foreign investment that will stimulate our U . S . economy ?
National security : Include additional reviews of projects and individual investors , in order to protect against national security breaches that may have occurred in the program .
Interagency collaboration : USCIS has pledged that within the next six months it will develop and implement an interagency collaboration plan . This will involve input and collaboration between USCIS , the Department of Commerce , and the Securities and Exchange Commission . We anticipate this will also be mandated through legislation
Minimum investment : Legislation would provide for an adjustment to the amount of investment . The required capital investment would no longer be either $ 1 million or $ 500,000 ; instead , the amount would be controlled through the U . S . Department of Commerce and keyed off of the Consumer Price Index .
Targeted employment areas : The House bill includes changes to prevent the “ gerrymandering ” of lowunemployment areas into targeted employment areas . Specifically , the legislation states that : 1 ) the TEA must be situated in an area that the U . S . Department of Labor determines to have an unemployment rate of at least 150 percent of the national rate ; 2 ) the U . S . Secretary of Labor should implement a uniform methodology for determining areas ’ unemployment rates ; and 3 ) USCIS has the final decision on whether a particular area has experienced high unemployment . This provision could hamper TEA designations as we know them today .
As Congress and the administration review the OIG report and legislate , the EB-5 community can be certain that there will be changes in how regional centers are administered , who administers them , and how they must comply with a new host of legal and regulatory and administrative requirements .
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Laura Reiff is co-managing shareholder / co-chair of the Business Immigration and Compliance Group at Greenberg Traurig , LLP . Ms . Reiff ’ s practice focuses on business immigration regulations affecting U . S . and foreign companies , compliance , and legislation . She is a leader in establishing and managing regional centers to create jobs and result in permanent residency for investors . She collaborates with specialists in securities law compliance , targeting employment areas , and projecting of 2013 , and the subsequent USCIS response , will serve as road maps for these improvements . The SEC will work closely with USCIS and whistleblowers concerned about misdeeds plaguing the program . We will see further collaborative efforts between agencies , such as in the joint USCIS-SEC investor alert issued last year , which warned investors about fraudulent EB-5 investments .
Enforcement of policy and regulations
USCIS will also collaborate with other agencies in an effort to ensure that security issues are addressed . Former USCIS Director Mayorkas stated that USCIS is working with Immigration Customs Enforcement , Customs and Border Protection , the FBI , and the Treasury Department on EB-5 cases . The USCIS EB-5 office is also working closely with the SEC enforcement division in Washington , D . C . This trend will only continue as the agencies begin to review the program further . Regional centers , finders and others involved in EB-5 will need to consider their responsibilities as gatekeepers . Furthermore , there will be filings for more broker dealer licenses and regional center affiliations with registered broker dealers will become commonplace . Investment advisors and other professionals will have a permanent seat at the table next to the other new guests — the SEC and FINRA .
There will also be an increasing understanding of EB-5 as a multifaceted program that takes numerous skill sets to manage . USCIS already has on-staff corporate attorneys , seasoned economists , and officers from the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate who help adjudicate applications and create new agency policy . The appointment of the new EB-5 director , Nicholas Colucci , is a strong indication of USCIS ’ s mission to increase enforcement . Director Colucci previously served as the associate director at the Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network , which analyzes banks for evidence of financial crime .
Let ’ s talk The government has improved its interagency cooperation and public outreach over the past decade . Post-9 / 11 , it became clear that agencies must communicate with each other to be effective , and there is nothing novel about applying this idea to the EB-5 program . Interagency cooperation will benefit the program across the board and make it easier for USCIS to administer , for investors to navigate , and for regional centers and project owners to operate .
The OIG report was spot on when identifying the limitations of USCIS resources , and it reminds readers that the adjudication of EB-5 petitions takes a village . The report also identified issues relating to the integrity of the program and security concerns , external and internal influence , lack of protocols , and USCIS ’ s inability to quantifiably measure the impact of the EB-5 program on the U . S . economy . These issues can all be tackled by interagency cooperation . Although the report was criticized for ignoring steps that USCIS had already taken , it took stock of the big picture and set an agenda for USCIS to take up internally .
24 EB5 Investors Magazine