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February-15-2021

RENEWAL OF EB-5 IMMIGRANT INVESTOR PROGRAM

The EB-5 immigrant investor program was designed by Congress with a sunset provision. This means that every year Congress will review the program holistically and determine whether it is still beneficial to the United States and thus should it be renewed for another year. 30 June 2021 is when the EB-5 program will reach its expiry date and would need to be renewed by Congress. Normally this is not a problem as in the past the program has always been automatically renewed with the omnibus bill, however, Donald Trump decoupled the EB-5 program from the omnibus bill. Meaning that the program would now require independent review and renewal.

The omnibus bill allowed for the EB-5 program to be automatically renewed along with several other programs. By coupling the EB-5 program with several other programs it meant that one unanimous approval renewed all the programs within that particular omnibus bill with one single vote. Donald Trump’s policy amendment of decoupling the EB-5 program made the program an independent item for Congress to vote on and decided on its renewal. This change has been implemented for some time now but due to its separation from the other programs industry thought leaders are now always concerned as to whether Congress would renew or not. This anxiety has been increased by the fact that there is a new administration and uncertainty as to whether the new administration will retain the program before it reaches its expiration date.

The EB-5 immigrant investor visa has been a crucial part of the growth of the U.S. economy since its inception in 1990. The capital investment of $900,000 along with the creation of 10 jobs for U.S. persons are positive attributes that the program provides to the U.S. Therefore, it can be assumed that with the current situation of a struggling economy and higher than usual unemployment rate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joe Biden administration will renew the program.

While the news of the program reaching its sunset date has raised a few concerns, it can be beneficial to examine the programs progress in the last financial year in an effort to deduce the likelihood of it being renewed or not. In 2020 when Donald Trump announced the suspension of travel visas into the U.S. the only program left unaffected was the EB-5 program. It had the authority to continue to file for candidates to obtain their U.S. green cards and residency. Later in 2020 the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services then announced an increase in the visa quota for the candidates applying under the EB-5 program for 2021.

Furthermore, comparing the EB-5 program with other national  investment visa programs such as the U.K golden visa it is noticeable that the programs are often retained and allowed to grow as per inflation rather than being removed. To ensure that the program remains exclusive the government usually increases the required capital investment amount. Therefore based on this logic it can be assumed that the EB-5 program may follow the same trajectory. Additionally, during Joe Biden’s campaign run he did not indicate the desire to remove the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.

It must also be noted that the current administration is working towards reversing some of Trump’s policies and it may be assumed that the EB-5 program may be placed under the omnibus bill once more and proceed with automatic renewal as per the past.

We at the American Legal Center Dubai, work with the top EB-5 attorneys in ensuring that a prospective candidate’s application is completed accurately and according to the requirements set. Our director, Shai Zamanian has been working in the GCC assisting families obtain their green cards for more than 10 years. Our team of U.S. EB-5 advisors are ready to assist you with your filing. Contact us today.