Sunset of the USCIS EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program is set for September 30, 2012. The EB-5 Pilot Program is one of the longest running ‘pilot program’ in United States government history. It is the Pilot Program—a program which has been routinely renewed since its inception in 1992—that designates regional centers to operate within the realm of EB-5 investments. If the EB-5 Pilot Program sunsets at the end of September, what concerns would that raise for the various members of the EB-5 community?

For starters, let us clarify that the perception of the EB-5 program coming to an end is untrue. The EB-5 Immigrant Investor program is a law enacted by congress for operation through the USCIS. The Pilot Program, however, the program that designates regional centers to operate as matchmakers between projects and investors, is just that: a pilot. If the pilot program reaches sunset and is not extended, it bears no effect on the EB-5 Program itself.

Due to the misconceptions of the September 30^th deadline, investors may be concerned about their ability to complete the program. If operating through a regional center, then the investors’ I-526 application must be received by the sunset date—September 30, 2012. If the USCIS acknowledges receipt of the application, then the investor may complete the program through the regional center project. It is important to note that the USCIS, like any government entity, has a very structured process that takes time to complete and it can take anywhere from 6-8 months to receive I-526 approval.

Projects may also be concerned about the sunset of the Pilot Program. If enough investors do not get their I-526 applications into the USCIS by the sunset date, then project funding through a regional center will not be possible and they will have to begin looking for alternate sources of funding. Without regional centers, projects still interested in funding through EB-5 are going to have to search even harder to find EB-5 money and adjust their business plans to support the Original EB-5 program which allows for only a single investor—drastically reducing the capital investment amount.

Because the requirements of the Original EB-5 program are slightly different than those of the Pilot Program, a few things would suffer without the extension of the latter. First, the job creation aspect would no longer provide such significant benefits to the community in which a project is located. Second, investors would have to take an active role in the management and operations of the business, taking away responsibility and ownership from the project. Lastly, because investors are not investing into a fund, the total investment capital for a business or project would be that of a single investor; an amount that is typically the minimum required and significantly less than what regional center projects have been seeking.

At the end of the day, the possible sunset of the EB-5 Pilot Program negatively affects US economic growth. The economic impact of a regional center—Pilot Program—project is greater than that of a business created through the Original EB-5 program as it has the ability to create more jobs, fund a larger project within a more impactful industry, and help to stimulate growth within local communities. At a time when banks are tightening their grips on lending to new business ventures, extending the EB-5 Pilot Program would bring new jobs, businesses, and growth to the United States.

EB-5 Visa Program News Blog: EB-5 Program

EB-5 Visa Program News Blog: EB-5 Program: A True Melting Pot: The USA and EB-5 Immigration The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) makes available 10,000 Uni...

EB-5 Program

A True Melting Pot: The USA and EB-5 Immigration

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) makes available 10,000 United States EB-5 visas for EB-5 investors and their families annually. Although the USCIS has established this figure for possible EB-5 visas per year, the number of EB-5 visas actually issued every year is far less. For example, for Fiscal Years 2005-2011, the EB-5 visa usage was: 158, 744, 806, 1,360, 4,218, 1,885 and 3,463 respectively. Even with an outlying figure like that of 2009, the EB-5 visa usage for Quarter 1 of Fiscal Year 2012 is 2,364. That number puts EB-5 visa usage for FY12 well on its way reaching the 10,000 EB-5 visa limits.

What does the FY12 EB-5 visa usage figure mean? And what has accounted for such an increase in usage? The answer to the first question is three-fold. First, the increased EB-5 visas quite literally means that more high wealth foreign nationals have been granted legal permanent residency in the United States and are therefore increasing local spending and boosting local economies. Second, increased EB-5 visas translates into increased EB-5 investments, which ultimately translates into increased projects being funded by EB-5 money. Last, and most importantly, increased EB-5 visa usage means an increase in American jobs. The USCIS estimates that each EB-5 investment results in an average of 2.5 EB-5 visas. If each EB-5 investment creates the minimum required 10 jobs and we divide the total number of EB-5 visas used by the 2.5 EB-5 investment average, then we can conclude that nearly 10,000 jobs were created for American workers in the First Quarter of FY12 through the EB-5 program.

Addressing the second question, this dramatic increase in EB-5 visa usage could be a result of several factors. First, 2012 is an election year. One of the key issues that candidates are focusing on is the jobs problem in the United States. The charter of the EB-5 program is rooting in the concept of job creation. President Obama, while not directly naming the USCIS’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program, has alluded to ‘foreign investments’ several times in recent months. It would behoove any and all candidates to consider using the EB-5 program as one component in helping to address the jobs problem in the United States.

There has also been an increase in the number of I-924’s filed in the First Quarter of FY12. The I-924 is an application for either the designation of a new regional center or the expansion of an existing one. Regional centers exist to facilitate the matching of EB-5 investors and projects in need of funding. Therefore, it only makes sense that increased EB-5 regional centers increases the overall EB-5 visa usage.

On a final note, the ever-prevalent notion that the US economic outlook remains dim in the short term also lends itself a possible explanation for the increase in EB-5 visa usage. Bank lending has not dramatically improved since its downturn and projects that may have been holding out for traditional funding are now more willing to accept nontraditional sources of funding. The EB-5 program has been around for over two decades and, in this time of both job creation and funding need, is now a more attractive and more viable option for projects.

In summary, the increase in EB-5 visa usage, as demonstrated by the YTD figures of FY12 as reported by the USCIS, implies not only that jobs are being created, projects are being funded, and businesses are opening across the country in several different industries, but, more importantly, that the future of the United States economy and job market is looks to be brighter and more hopeful as EB-5 immigrant investors help to develop and rescue the world’s great Melting Pot that is the United States of America.

EB-5 Visa Program News Blog: FY12 Q1 EB-5 Statistics

EB-5 Visa Program News Blog: FY12 Q1 EB-5 Statistics: USCIS has released new statistics as part of the presentation for the 1/23 EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting . Form I-924 (& Pre-I-...

FY12 Q1 EB-5 Statistics

USCIS has released new statistics as part of the presentation for the 1/23 EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting.

Form I-924 (& Pre-I-924) Regional Center Initial Applications
Fiscal Year or Quarter	Receipts	Approvals	Denials
FY12 Q1	41	14	22
FY11	192	80	51
FY10	110	36	30

Form I-924 (& Pre-I-924) Regional Center Amendment Requests
Fiscal Year or Quarter	Receipts	Approvals	Denials
FY12 Q1	17	4	3
FY11	86	43	7
FY10	42	42	11

Form I-526 Petition Final Actions
Fiscal Year and/or Quarter	Form I-526 Approvals	Final Action %	Form I-526 Denials	Final Action %
FY12 Q1	1,076	83%	222	17%
FY11	1,563	81%	371	19%
FY10	1,369	89%	165	11%
FY09	1,262	86%	207	14%
FY08	640	84%	120	16%
FY07	473	76%	148	24%
FY06	336	73%	124	27%
FY05	179	53%	156	47%

Form I-829 Petition Final Actions
Fiscal Year and/or Quarter	Form I-829 Approvals	Final Action %	Form I-829 Denials	Final Action %
FY12 Q1	144	93%	11	7%
FY11	1,067	96%	46	4%
FY10	274	83%	56	17%
FY09	347	86%	56	14%
FY08	159	70%	68	30%
FY07	111	69%	49	31%
FY06	106	64%	59	36%
FY05	184	62%	112	38%

EB-5 Visa Usage
Fiscal Year	Total EB-5 Visas Issued
FY12 YTD*	2,364
FY11	3,463
FY10	1,885
FY09	4,218
FY08	1,360
FY07	806
FY06	744
FY05	158
*Estimate of FY12 Visas Issued YTD, reported by the Department of State as of 01/17/2012.

Attention: International Students EB-5 is for you!

Attention: International Students EB-5 is for you!

Second semester senior year is supposed to be both exciting and relaxing for college students. Finishing up your major, interviewing for jobs, and planning trips to Europe consume your last few months as a full-time student. But what if that trip you were planning—Europe, Asia, anywhere—was going to be permanent? At this time, international students studying in the United States are faced not only with a slow and challenging economy and job market; they are also struggling to get sponsorship for H-1 or work visas.

Consider this scenario: At age 18, you receive a student visa and decide to study in the United States. It is 2008, and while the job market is not completely awful in the U.S., you are confident that things will turn around by the time you are ready to graduate in 2012. Now, fast forward through those four years of undergrad. It is now 2012 and you are getting ready to walk across that stage. Nerves set in, because the job market has not picked up as hoped and the companies that are hiring graduates are looking to hire U.S. citizens and forego the H-1 or work visa paper process. You feel stuck. You feel helpless. You have just spent the last four years of your life networking, studying, interning, and giving everything you could to your community and now you have no choice but to leave. Wasn’t the reason you decided to study in the United States in the first place to learn as much as you could and then find a job and stay here? Your dreams are shattered.

Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, LLC (CFIG) understands your concerns and offers you an option that will allow you obtain a U.S. Green Card within one year and restore those dreams. It is called EB-5. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) EB-5 immigrant investor program is designed to address the issues of job creation and economic development while, at the same time, providing investors with U.S. Green Cards. CFIG has been designated as a USCIS EB-5 regional center, allowing them facilitate match EB-5 qualifying projects with EB-5 investors.

The minimum investment requirement for EB-5 is $500,000 in a targeted employment area or $1,000,000 in any other area within an EB-5 regional center’s designated operating area. By investing through an EB-5 regional center, like CFIG, much of the stress investors fear is alleviated. CFIG vets projects and structures business plans to ensure EB-5 compliance. Each EB-5 investment creates 10 jobs—directly or indirectly—and helps stimulate local economies. It is this job creation that helps to stimulate the economy.

While EB-5 investors are not employed by the projects in which they invest, the EB-5 regional center’s projects are helping to stimulate the economy. A growing economy leads to increased hiring in general and increased hiring creates a more promising job market for graduating students and international students.

Advantages of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program

The U.S. immigrant investor program is the most flexible in the world. It sets no requirements based on age, business training and experience, or language skills. Additionally, Permanent Residents need not be continuously and physically present in the United States during the program and can even maintain business and professional relations in their country of origin.

The U.S. immigrant investor program also allows investors a great deal of freedom because it does not require immigrant investors to manage their investment on a daily basis, but rather, to ‘actively engage’ in a business enterprise, meaning they can be limited partners and pursue other professional or personal ventures.

Moreover, should the investor and his or her family elect to become U.S. citizens, the time spent as conditional permanent residents is credited towards the five year lawful permanent residency requirement for U.S. citizenship. As a permanent resident, the investor and his or her family are free to return to their homeland for visits or business purposes, as long as a residence is maintained in the United States.

The EB-5 Visa program also offers the following benefits:

• Direct route to permanent residency in the United States for Investor, his/her spouse, and any children under the age of 21

• Freedom for Investor and family to live, work, and retire anywhere in the United States

• Investor and his/her spouse and children may attend college or university at U.S. resident costs

• Investor and immediate family may travel to and from the United States without a visa

• Route to U.S. citizenship for Investor and immediate family after five years of permanent residency

• Ability for Investor to sponsor green cards for family members

• Investor receives all benefits of U.S. permanent residency status, including ability to develop and run his/her own business

Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, LLC