Source: forumdaily.com
On March 9, the House of Representatives passed a giant summary bill that includes provisions to revive the EB-5 investor visa program, albeit in conjunction with significant reforms to combat fraudulent schemes, including by Chinese nationals.
The EB-5 investor visa program allowed foreign investors to obtain residency, which raised concerns because it amounted to a "dollars for residency" scheme.
It also raised concerns among national security officials because the program could be used by the Chinese Communists. Most of the investors who took advantage of the program came from China or other parts of Asia. The program usually required an investment of $1 million, but it could be as little as $500,000 in high-poverty areas and the creation of 10 jobs. Instead, the investor will be issued a green card. And not only to him, but also to his family. This, in turn, puts them on the path to citizenship.
Previous attempts at reform in the Obama and Trump administrations have failed. But the nearly 3,000-page new vault includes provisions first introduced into legislation by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, R-Va., to reform the program.
That legislation was blocked last year, and funding for the EB-5 program ran out and has been dormant ever since. But in the event of successful bipartisan immigration reform, the visa program would be revived with a number of significant changes.
The package includes a number of measures to reform part of the "regional center" program, which allows several investors to pool capital to finance large investments in the country. Although it was intended to stimulate economic growth in poor or rural areas, the money poured into luxury projects in places like New York and San Francisco.
The reforms include a number of anti-fraud measures, as well as audits, background checks and site visits for EB-5 projects, as well as stricter definitions of terms such as "equity" to prevent abuse. It also increases the funding required for high-poverty areas to $800,000. Of the 10,000 EB-5s granted each year, 2,000 will be for rural or high-poverty areas.
The regulations also include expanded DHS authority to review foreign capital to ensure it is legally obtained and require foreign agents and third-party promoters of the program to register with DHS. The wording now included in the vault also establishes an EB-5 "integrity fund" to which centers and investors will make contributions that will be used by DHS to conduct additional screening.
The set also includes a number of regulations that were overturned under the Trump administration by a federal judge. While investor groups welcomed the move, immigration hawks were less convinced. RJ Hauman, head of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the program is "riddled with fraud and national security vulnerabilities" and is "often exploited by wealthy urban developers who siphon investment money from the rural and economically disadvantaged. projects in one of the richest regions of the country".
"While the reforms were well-intentioned, the program was dead and should have remained so," he said. Hauman also expressed concern about the use of the program by Russian oligarchs: "Furthermore, if the world successfully strangles businesses in Russia, and we see it already happening, all these rich oligarchs will have even more motivation to put their money in safer havens," he said. he. "EB-5 not only satisfies those aspirations, but also gives them a green card so they can flee a country that is collapsing."
