EB5 Investors Magazine | Page 42

Continued from page 39 The text: “EB-5 Petition Processing Times” What it does: Establishes concrete timeframes for petition and application rulings What it means: Current USCIS processing times for I-924 or I-526 forms are 12-18 months. This threatens the EB-5 projects and jobs they will create. This portion of the bill requires that the Secretary of Homeland Security provides an expedited processing option for certain petitions. The bill dictates that USCIS will make rulings on I-829 and other petitions “not later than 180 days after the date on which the proposal or application is filed.” Faster processing times mean more investors get through the application process, bringing additional investments to the United States and creating more jobs. “Obviously, as far as processing times go, the faster the better,” immigration attorney Edward Beshara said. “A quicker approval means that the investor gets their permanent residency and can come to the United States faster.” According to Beshara, the bill’s provision is especially helpful for investors whose children are close to the USCIS age limit. “For investors with children who are nearing 21 years old, their conditional residency is two or three years off. Their children could ‘age out’ before they get their green card,” Beshara said. The faster processing times stipulated in Congressman Polis’ bill also help to combat Chinese retrogression, and when combined with the bills’ removal of “derivatives” from the visa count and its elimination of a per-country visa cap, retrogression could be ended altogether. “By raising the per-country limits on immigrants in the EB-5 program, the Polis-Amodei Bill recognizes the tremendous popularity of the EB-5 program among Chinese investors.” In addition to preventing an EB-5 waiting list, the removal of derivatives from the overall EB-5 visa limit will increase the market size of the EB-5 industry and create more U.S. jobs. Each of the 10,000 visas could be used to their full potential, rather than being counted toward family members. “Since the average investor brings a family of 2.5 people (a spouse and one or two kids), not counting ‘derivatives’ triples the number of investors who can fill the quota in this category,” immigration attorney and IIUSA Vice President Robert C. Divine said. “That means three times more jobs created for American workers. This is a type of provision that has received bipartisan support for all of the employment based immigrant categories.” The text: “Numerical Limitations on Individual Foreign States” What it does: This portion of the bill eliminates per-country quotas for EB-5 visas, combating looming retrogression The text: “Aliens Not Subject to Numerical Limitation” What it means: Current per-country visa limits prevent any single country from monopolizing visas. When a country nears the quota, USCIS places a “hold” on review of petitions from that particular country. This “retrogression” occurred for the first time in the EB-5 program’s history with Chinese investors in 2014, as demand for the visa succeeded the quota. Retrogression is expected to occur once again in 2015, and slows regional center activity. Congressman Polis’ bill addresses this problem by eliminating per-country quotas for EB-5 Visas. What it does: This clause removes “derivatives” from the visa count, meaning that “aliens who are the spouse or a child of an investor under the EB-5 program” no longer count against the overall annual EB-5 visa limit “By raising the per-country limits on immigrants in the EB-5 program, the Polis-Amodei Bill recognizes the tremendous popularity of the EB-5 program among Chinese investors,” Donoso said. What it means: “Removing derivative family members from the EB-5 visa cap would be an immediate relief to the EB-5 program by reducing the potential for an EB-5 visa waiting list for years to come,” said immigration attorney Ignacio Donoso. Immigrants from countries with much fewer EB-5 applicants will still be able to contribute to the program and the steady Chinese demand would facilitate a “stable program that can grow predictably without the cloud of uncertainty of a years-long visa waiting lists suddenly occurring,” Donoso added. “Retrogression creates unnecessary delays that affect exit strategies, job creation, and how you sustain an investment in a project,” Beshara said. “If you remove derivatives, hopefully you won’t see Chinese retrogression being an issue.” “Since the average investor brings a family of 2.5 people (a spouse and one or two kids), not counting ‘derivatives’ triples the number of investors who can fill the quota in this category.” 40 The Text: “Preventing Fraud in the Regional Center Program” What it does: Enhances transparency and accountability within the EB-5 program by requiring investors to comply with certain additional enforceable regulations and laws, including federal securities laws EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE