EB-5 Law
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 repealed the regional center program that had existed from 1993 to 2021, and authorized a new regional center program effective as of May 14, 2022. The new law makes changes that affect the direct and regional center EB-5, including increased minimum investment, changed Targeted Employment Area process and definitions, new structure limitations, and new visa availability restrictions.
Last page update: October 7, 2022
Links to Law and Policy Updates
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 can be found in H.R.2471 – Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 enacted on March 15, 2022. You can read the revised INA directly here. (And here is my folder with RIA and INA text extracted and formatted with headings for ease of reference.)
The Settlement Agreement in the case of Behring Regional Center LLC v. Mayorkas et al. clarified implementation. (See also Robert Divine’s article “Settlement Allows Previous EB-5 Regional Centers to Sponsor New Investors“)
USCIS has started to update the USCIS website EB-5 pages and the USCIS Policy Manual EB-5 section. As of October 7, the content on these pages is about 25% revised to match the new law.
The following new forms have been published:
- Form I-956 Application for Regional Center Designation
- Form I-956H Bona Fides of Persons Involved with Regional Center Program
- Form I-956F Application for Approval of an Investment in a New Commercial Enterprise
- Form I-956G Regional Center Annual Statement
- Form I-956K Registration for Direct and Third-Party Promoters (not yet published, but available for review in the Federal Register below)
- Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor
- Form I-526E Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor
The following Federal Register comment opportunities have been opened:
- Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of a Currently Approved Collection: Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor; Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor: I-526, I-526E (Comments close October 24, 2022)
- Agency Information Collection Activities; New Collection: I-956; I-956F; I-956G; I-956H; I-956K (Comments close November 1, 2022)