S386 Bill Making Indian EB-5 Green Card Seekers Uneasy

S386 bill that eliminates the per-country cap for employment-based green cards, was passed in the U.S. Senate, it was expected that the Indian community, who have been waiting in the GC queue for decades, would benefit.

According to immigration experts and investors,” This might not be good for the smaller Indian investor community. As for them, it would take longer to get their green card under current S386 rules"

This has led these Indians, who have invested anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million or more, to lobby for getting the EB-5 visa out of the S386 bill.

EB-5, an investor visa, comes under the employment-based category. The US issues 10,000 EB-5 visas per year, with a country cap of 700.

For Indians, it was attractive, given that the time period to get an EB-5 is 4-5 years compared to 80 years for an H-1B or L-1 visa. This led to many Indians taking the EB-5 route over the last few years. India reached its cap in FY19.

A techie and an EB-5 investor, has put all his life savings into EB-5 to get a green card for his family. It was a risk, given that he is the only earning member and also has an educational loan to pay off on top of the $500,000 investment he made.

People like the above-mentioned techie would now be at a disadvantage under the current structure of the S386 bill where applicants would be cleared on a first-come-first-served basis.

How?

Indians are now the largest applicant group for EB-5 visas and the proposed change would suddenly place these people in a queue behind thousands of Chinese applicants overnight. Chinese applicants have a wait time of close to 17 years based on their current backlog.

And, new investors will have to wait for 8-9 years instead of an average 4-year wait now, pointed out immigration experts.

Risks

There are 2 key risks:

Longer the investment, the higher the risk given the uncertainty around them.

This means that they not only lose the chance to get their green card, but there is also a possibility of losing the money too.

So what now?

With increased wait periods and large investment amounts, the US might no longer be attractive for many.

So many would like to move to countries like Canada, Portugal, Ireland, and the UK, where processing time for investor visas is anywhere between 3-9 months, less than the average four years in America.

For those who have already invested, lobbying is the only option. The bill is not final yet and there is not much clarity on what changes the House of Representatives would bring. So most of the investors are lobbying against the inclusion of EB-5 in the bill.