EB-5 Immigration Gets Boost From Senate Reform

EB-5 Immigration Gets Boost From Senate Reform

As immigration reform remains on the 2013 Congressional Agenda, the bipartisan group of 8 representatives filed its proposal, titled Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. The legislation still faces a series of battles, starting with a series of hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee and followed by the amendment process and floor debate. As of now, though, the bill outlines a favorable future for EB-5 immigration.


According to the current version of the bill, EB-5 immigration will be made permanent; EB-5 would be one of the visa categories where family members would not count against the 10,000-applicant limit; and the fiscal year 2015 will enjoy a buffeted number of visa allowances.


To further explain, US Immigration Fund has pulled excerpts from the bill:


Provision to Make EB-5 Immigration Permanent:
Page 359, Section 2319, Elimination of Sunsets for Certain Visa Programs
(b) EB -5 REGIONAL CENTER PROGRAM.—Section 610(b) of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Public Law 102–395; 8 U.S.C. 1153 note) is amended by striking ‘‘until September 30, 2015’’.


Provision to Limit Applicant Family Member Counts:
Page 296, Section 2307, Allocation of Immigrant Visas
(b) PREFERENCE ALLOCATION FOR EMPLOYMENT BASED IMMIGRANTS.—Section 201(b)(1) (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(F) Derivative beneficiaries as described in section 203(d) of employment-based immigrants under section 203(b). … [this covers EB-5 in not counting their family members against the cap.]


Provision to Capture Unused Visas:
Page 276, SEC. 2304. WORLD-WIDE LEVELS AND RECAPTURE OF UNUSED IMMIGRANT VISAS.
[keeps the normal employment-based worldwide limit at 140,000 plus any unused family-based allocations for the previous year (as in current law), plus, for FY2015 only (the year ending 9/30/2015), the unused EB numbers for FY 1992 through 2013]


Other provisions that will affect EB-5 Regional Centers and immigration include the addition of start-up business visas (which would no longer count as EB-5) and the rise of EB-5 from 7.1% of total 140,000 employment-based visas.


Immigration reform will bring positive changes to more than just the US Regional Centers and those investors. A new study, The Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform, reports that the reform could reinvigorate the American economy.


According to the executive summary of the study, “A benchmark immigration reform would raise the pace of economic growth by nearly a percentage point over the near term, raise GDP per capita by over $1,500 and reduce the cumulative federal deficit by over $2.5 trillion.”


Just as the American economy awaits this impending boost, so does US Immigration Fund. The firm looks forward to assisting many immigrant investors for years to come.