• 04 April 2016
All’s Quiet on the EB-5 Front

There has not been a lot of news about EB-5 lately. Even with immigration a hot topic in the presidential primaries, it is difficult to find anywhere where any candidate has addressed the issue.

The obvious pain points with immigration are:

  • What to do with illegal immigrants in the U.S.
  • How to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the U.S.
  • What to do about Syrian refugees
  • How to prevent terrorists from entering the U.S.

If nothing else, it ought to remind our readers that the number of people concerned about either the preservation or reform of the USCIS investor visa program is much less than we would like to think. It is probably going to continue that way throughout the election year. According to Govtrack.com, here is the prognosis for each of the EB-5-related bills currently in Congress:

Bill Title Chances for Approval
S. 1501 American Job Creation and Investment Promotion Reform Act of 2015 4%
S. 2415 EB-5 Integrity Act of 2015 2%
H.R. 4530 EB-5 Integrity Act of 2016 1%
S. 2122 Invest in Our Communities Act 1%
H.R. 3370 EB-JOBS Acts of 2015 0%
H.R. 616 American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act of 2015 0%

Despite all of the publicity in 2015 to the contrary, the reality is that expecting any major EB-5 reform in 2016 is unlikely. That is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly when it comes to modifying the minimum investment.