 |
 |
 |
Internal USCIS memo suggests improvements for EB-5
In an undated internal memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) staffers to the agency’s director, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, some suggestions to improve the EB-5 visa program are laid out.
The intent of the suggestions are to make EB-5 investment opportunities more accessible to foreign investors and to improve the program’s administration.
The memo descibes the EB-5 visa program as “under utilized” and states that the it is an important way to help the country recover from the recent recession.
Specifically, the memo suggests that the USCIS should partner with the Department of Commerce (DOC) to help administer the EB-5 visa program.
The memo suggests that the goals of the EB-5 visa program and that of the DOC’s Invest in America program are similar and calls them “a natural starting point for agency collaboration.” In addition it says that the two could work to make the EB-5 visa program more accessible to foreign nationals by improving “administrative efficiencies” and further promotion
The document also recommends establishing a “working group” to help determine how, specifically, collaboration between the two government agencies can begin.
The EB-5 visa program was started in 1990 to help attract foreign capital to U.S. businesses. If foreign nationals invest $1 million in an American company or project and that investment leads to the creation or preservation of 10 jobs, the investor becomes green card eligible.
Shortly after the creation of the EB-5 visa program, EB-5 regional centers were established to help direct and manage foreign investment. These centers can be “any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment,” according to the USCIS website.
Some EB-5 regional centers are in Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs). Federal law defines such regions as “a rural area or an area that has experienced high unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average.” These locations can be attractive to foreign investors, as only a $500,000 investment is needed to meet the requirements of the EB-5 visa program.
According to the USCIS, China produced the most successful investors in the EB-5 visa program with 1,979. South Korea had 903 people who earned U.S. green cards through the program, the second most.