Ups and Mostly Downs in the EB-5 Neighborhood
By David North on June 9, 2021
The EB-5 (immigrant investor) program is having an interesting month.
The big downer for the program is that its major component may lose its congressional authorization at the end of the month and there may not be a piece of “must-pass” legislation to which its reauthorization can be tied. That’s how the reauthorization matter has been handled in the last few years.
The EB-5 program grants a family-sized set of green cards to investors who put $900,000 or more in a Homeland Security-recognized, but not guaranteed, project, usually in big-city real estate. Until late 2019, the minimum was $500,000. A small part of the program for alien-run investments will continue, but the heart of the program, dealing with the pooled investments, is due to expire on June 30.
The higher price, together with a provision barring the economic gerrymandering used to define targeted employment areas (TEAs) for these investments in earlier years, has brought the program to a near halt, as new applications for the 10,000 available visas fell to fewer than 10 in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
https://cis.org/North/Ups-and-Mostly-Downs-EB5-Neighborhood
