84 UGLOBAL IMMIGRATION MAGAZINE
NEW EB-5 VISA CATEGORIES EXPLAINED
BY ABTEEN VAZIRI
The importance of expedited filing under the new EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act for investors who want to get a green card in the United States .
The new EB-5 legislation , called the Reform and Integrity Act ( RIA ), was passed into law on March 15 , 2022 , and has many different rules and caveats on how visas get processed . These rules may be hard for investors to navigate without consulting capable immigration counselors with EB-5 expertise . Let ’ s simplify some of the rules and explain the different wait times and procedures for investors to better navigate their investment immigration process .
The old EB-5 rules were a combination of the 1991 EB-5 Pilot Program and three decades of rulemaking by the federal agencies , namely the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“ USCIS ”), and its predecessor agency Immigration and Naturalization Service . The new
RIA replaces the previous law , and in many cases replaces the agency rules that were made by the USCIS and INS , in instances where Congress explicitly outlies those rules in the RIA .
HOW LAW-MAKING WORKS IN THE UNITED STATES
The United States Constitution stipulates that Congress has the exclusive power to make new laws and can delegate certain administrative rule making rights to the federal agencies . In this case the USCIS or DHS , to make additional rules and regulations to complement the Congress ’ s lawmaking powers . A good analogy would be to say that Congress paints with a broad brush and the federal agencies