May News and Information

Now to tear myself away from the exciting work of writing business plans and assisting with RFEs, and comment on what’s new in EB-5.

• Everyone wants to know whether USCIS has issued any further rumblings on the tenant occupancy issue. So far as I know, we have nothing except the Operational Guidance letter that repeats Director Mayorkas’ statement from the 4/27 meeting. No word on when and if we will get the engagement with the USCIS economists promised “ASAP” at the 4/27 meeting. (UPDATE: an engagement on 6/26 has been announced.) Some applicants did file RFE responses at the beginning of May, despite the extended deadline, and I look forward to seeing how USCIS reacts to the various fact-specific arguments presented in those responses. Angelo Paparelli and Brandon Meyer have written an article that discusses the issues involved and includes many useful links. See Immigration-Agency Lawbreaking Revealed: USCIS’s EB-5 “Tenant-Occupancy” Scandal.
• As of May 31, we have 122 days remaining until the Regional Center program sunsets. The word on the street at the IIUSA conference last month was that Congress would probably reauthorize the program at the last minute for a limited period of time, possibly three years. However, there has been recent activity in the House and Senate, including a bipartisan bill introduced by Senator Leahy last week to permanently authorize the program. You are encouraged to join the advocacy effort by writing to your Congressperson.
• According to the USCIS EB-5 Regional Center page (as updated 5/30), actual I-924 processing times are 7 months for the I-924 Initial Application and 9 months for the I-924 Amendment Application as of 4/30/2012. Amendments are generally simpler than initial applications, so I suppose that relative volume of amendments must be behind the longer processing times.
• The I-924 form is shortly up for revision, and you have the opportunity to help improve it.
• The State of California has added to the TEA drama by posting a letter listing counties, MSAs, and cities that qualify as TEAS and announcing that there will be no other areas or subareas designated and no new customized designations. In other words, no Census Tract designations. See the State website, and additional perspective in a posting at the Hotel Law blog.
• And a few more recent EB-5 articles that the cool kids are reading:
  • Joe Whalen’s EB-5 Roundup from the 4/27 EB-5 Investment Summit
  • What is a “Reasonable Investigation” of a Regional Center Project? from the EB-5 Due Diligence Blog
  • Top 10 Ways to Make the Immigrant Investor Program Work from the AILA Leadership Blog
  • Making Visas-for-Dollars Work from the New York Times
  • More Wealthy Chinese Said to Prepare Exits from the Wall Street Journal