EB-5: US Reopens Investment Route For PR

Rich Indians are looking for ways to get a US PR permit to have the investment route reopened with the US Congress reviving the EB-5 Regional Center Program.

President Biden signed into law on March 11 the appropriations legislation passed by Congress late Thursday that also reauthorizes through the Fiscal Year 2027; the program expired on June 30, 2021.

About 80,000 investors, largely from China followed by India, had been caught in limbo as the USCIS had stopped processing their green card applications with the expiry of the program.

However, the new law increases the minimum investment amount for EB-5 projects to $1,050,000, from $1,000,000 and to $800,000, from $500,000 for targeted employment areas (TEAs). The minimum investment for infrastructure projects will be $800,000.

Foreign investors will also be required to pay a new $1,000 fee that will be allocated to the Integrity Fund.

Under the new law, investors for whom an EB-5 immigrant visa is immediately available will be permitted to file their EB-5 petitions at the same time as their applications for adjustment of status to PR or file an adjustment with a pending EB-5 petition.

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, reauthorizing the EB-5 Regional Center Program through September 30, 2027, is part of the FY 2022 federal appropriations legislation signed by Biden.