Changes and Trends in EB-5 Investment Immigration
Is it the End of the EB-5 World as We Know it? How to Prepare for Potential Changes
President Donald Trump recently announced a proposed “Gold Card” visa, sparking speculation about its potential impact on the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. While details remain unclear, this proposal raises important...more
President Donald Trump has announced that he plans to offer the “Trump Gold Card” to replace the existing EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. The Trump Gold Card Program would allow an investor who is willing to invest $5...more
OVERVIEW - •Speaking to the press on February 25, 2025, President Trump announced an idea for a new “gold card” visa and pathway to citizenship for foreign investors paying $5 million. •Additional information has not been...more
On February 25, 2025, President Trump announced his intention to terminate the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and introduce a new “Gold Card” visa requiring a $5 million investment. While the proposal has drawn significant...more
Speaking from the Oval Office this afternoon, President Trump proposed replacing the EB-5 Program with a new program that would offer “gold cards” for $5 million to wealthy foreign nationals seeking residency, and...more
The EB-5 program, officially known as the Employment-Based Fifth Preference Immigrant Investor Program, offers a compelling pathway for foreign investors to gain lawful permanent residency in the United States by investing in...more
Thanks to a final rule recently announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), filing fees are about to increase on April 1, 2024, and filers who fail to make haste will end up paying more, or risk...more
The EB-5 immigrant visa investor program has been used as an alternative source of funding for many real estate developers. EB-5 investors have typically preferred real estate related projects, and EB-5 capital has been used...more
After Congress passed the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act in March 2022, USCIS announced that the act repealed the legacy Regional Center Program. Consequently, more than 600 existing regional centers were effectively...more
On April 29, 2022, USCIS held its EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 Listening Session and clarified that entities seeking to be designated as a regional center are required to file Form I-956, Application for Regional...more
Substantial changes are forthcoming for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program as the omnibus spending bill awaits President Biden’s signature. Aside from proposing $1.5 trillion for annual expenses and aid, the omnibus bill...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on January 5, 2022, filed an unopposed motion to dismiss its August 2021 appeal to a district court ruling in Behring Regional Center LLC v. Chad Wolf, et al. The previous ruling...more
As of June 30, 2021, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program has lapsed, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has since rejected any submissions received on or after July 1, 2021, of the following...more
On June 22, 2021, Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California ruled that Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan exceeded his statutory authority in issuing the July 2019...more
For the past 4 weeks, the EB-5 industry has been anxiously awaiting the status of the pending complaint filed in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia by a Florida regional center against USCIS and...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule on July 24, 2019, that makes a number of significant changes to its EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (“EB-5 Program”). These new rules are designed to...more
On November 21, 2019, the EB-5 "Immigrant Investor Program Modernization" became effective. This is the first significant EB-5 regulatory change instituted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) since 1993....more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has made significant changes to the Immigrant Investor Program (EB-5) through their establishment of new EB-5 modernization regulations. The EB-5 program permits individuals...more
On November 5, 2019, Senators Rounds (R-SD), Graham (R-SC) and Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Immigrant Investor Program Relief Act (S. 2778) (“Relief Act”). The Relief Act would extend the Immigrant Investor Program (known as...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 24, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the immigration-benefits component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published a final regulation on “EB-5 Immigrant...more
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 23, 2019 that final regulations will be published on July 24, 2019 making a number of significant changes to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program effective...more
On July 23, 2019, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) regulations to update the Immigrant Investor Program were published in the Federal Register. The new EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization...more
USCIS has published its new final rule significantly changing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program to address concerns about fraud, abuse, and national security risks. The new regulations will become effective on November 21,...more
On September 27, 2018, the House of Representatives passed an $854 billion spending bill, H.R. 6157 - Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing...more
On March 23, 2018, Congress passed and President Trump signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (the “Omnibus Act”), a $1.3 trillion spending bill, as federal funding and the EB-5 program were due to expire....more