After two years of disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry’s authoritative IIUSA Industry Forum was successfully held in Orlando, Florida from April 12th to 13th. Many of the EB-5 industry’s leading Regional Centers, Attorneys and immigration intermediaries attended the two-days event to discuss the reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center program, as well as the new regulations and benefits coming from the EB-5 Reforms law. American Regional Center For Entrepreneurs (ARCFE) was also invited to participate and received awards from IIUSA.
ARCFE received award from IIUSA.
President Lily Guo represented ARCFE team to receive the award in Orlando, FL. (April 2022)
IIUSA Industry Forum Summary
Regional Centers need to be re-registered
The new law stipulates that all Regional Centers need to be re-register and submit all information regarding relevant personnel in the regional center to the USCIS. The new policy does not allow individuals, who are foreign nationals, foreign governments or those who have criminal records to participate in managing the Regional Center. The immigration agency will soon release more details on how the re-registering process will be done.
Overseas brokers/agents must register with USCIS
The new law requires the overseas brokers/agents to register with USCIS in order to legally receive any commission payment from Regional Centers. Additionally, it also requires brokers/agents to clearly show the fees and commissions charged to the investors. Investors’ written confirmation will become one of the documents required when filing the I-526 petition.
Stricter regulations for fund management (including financial audit)
The new law puts forward a number of requirements to increase fund regulations to protect EB-5 investors, including the maintenance of financial records and other related documents from Regional Centers and NCE for at least 5 years. Regional Centers will be audited at least once every 5 years. The audit will include reviewing the documents and the inflow of funds from foreign investors into investment project.
USCIS will conduct a site visit at least once for each newly established NCE and JCE. Regional Centers are required to submit the specifics of fund operations on an annual basis, including detailed descriptions and evidence of the use of funds, various expenses, investment principal, project progress, and the policies and procedures for managing and law compliance for the fund operations.
Industry professionals believe that these new compliance requirements will place higher requirements on the operation and management of Regional Centers. Regional Centers will need to invest more human resources to increase efficiency and transparency. Event participants put forward many suggestions and helpful methods on how to effectively implement these regulations.
Reserved visa program
The new law proposes three categories for reserved EB-5 visas program: 20% for rural areas, 10% for high unemployment areas, and 2% for infrastructure projects. Regarding whether these quotas are applicable to previous projects, many professionals believe that they will only be applicable to the new projects.
May 2022 Visa Bulletin shows “C – CURRENT” for all 3 reserved visa categories
On the second day of the event (April 13th), the National Visa Center (NVC) released the May 2022 Visa Bulletin, which officially shows the three additional rows for the three reserved visa categories mentioned above (rural, high unemployment, infrastructure). The priority date for all three categories shows “C” or CURRENT for all countries, meaning USCIS will process I-526 as the applications come in starting May 14th. This is very good news, especially for countries with heavy backlog like China.
If investors are currently in the U.S. under a different visa (e.g. H1B, F-1, E-2, etc.), they can choose to do concurrent filing – filing I-526 petition and I-485 (Change of Status) at the same time. This will give them immediate freedom to live, study and work in the U.S. This is a huge advantage of the new EB-5 program.
New TEA definition
The new definition for TEA projects are as follow:
Rural areas
Urban areas with high unemployment
Infrastructure projects
Among these three, the definition for rural areas remain the same as it was in the past, while the regulations for urban areas with high unemployment have some changes.
In the past, urban areas with high unemployment were approved by the state government. The new law is changed to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and will be calculated according to the “directly adjacent” demographic area. TEA certification is valid for 2 years.
EB-5 application data and visa usage by country
During his speech, Mr. Charlie Oppenheim (former director of NVC) gave an explanation on the serious waste of visas in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, along with his analysis on priority date for investors, specifically for the Chinese market.
He believes that the number of unused visas in 2020-2022 fiscal year is enough to solve the backlog problem in for the Chinese EB-5 investors. Currently, there is a proposal to Congress to reuse the unused visas but we will have to wait and see Congress’ final decision.
2020-2022 IIUSA I-829 Regional Center and Practicing Attorney Awards
The Industry Forum also honors leading Regional Centers and immigration attorneys who have recently succeeded in obtaining I-829 approvals for their clients. American Regional Center For Entrepreneurs (ARCFE) is honored to receive this award.
ARCFE is honored to be one of the leading Regional Centers to received the IIUSA I-829 Award.
President Lily Guo represented ARCFE team to give award acceptance speech. (April 2022)
Introducing ARCFE Group 12 LLC
JACKSON PROJECT
ABOUT GROUP 12 LLC: JACKSON PROJECT
The Jackson project is located in the heart of Long Island City (LIC) – New York’s fastest growing neighborhood. The area qualifies for TEA under the new regulations, and it also qualifies for 10% high unemployment reserved EB-5 visas. LIC is densely populated and has one of the most highly accessible transportation hubs. The area has great commercial potential and is very strong in its real estate market. Rents in this area are competitive but not off-the-roof high like Manhattan, while geographically still managed to be close to the city. This makes LIC the ideal place for young professionals to live in and the highly profitable investment option for real estate investors.
Long Island City’s infamous PepsiCola signed taken by ARCFE. (April 2022)
ABOUT ARCFE
American Regional Center For Entrepreneurs (ARCFE) is an award-winning Regional Center designated by United States Department of Homeland Security on March 5, 2013. Our team consists of professionals with years of experience from both the EB-5 and real estate financing industry. We have successfully assisted over 500 investors and their families to get more than 1000 Green Cards through 12 real estate development projects in the Greater New York area.
Years of experience in operating an EB-5 Regional Center has allowed us to accumulate strong a fundamental knowledge of the industry, and given us the ability to offer our investors a wide range of resources to ensure a smooth investment process and transition into life in the U.S. Our priority is the investor’s success in achieving their American Dream of becoming permanent residents and enjoying the benefits that the U.S. has to offer. Our team of professionals go through a rigorous project evaluation process to make sure that we pick the best project that not only benefits but is also safe for our investors.
Although USCIS will not begin to accept new I-526 petitions until May 14th, this does not mean investors should wait until then to make a decision. May 14th is only one month away and it will come with many changes that will immediately go into effect. Investors need to start prepare the documents now and be ready-to-go to take advantage of the “C” priority date status and all the benefits from these changes early on.
Investors currently living in the U.S. can now schedule a project and company site visit with our U.S. team and our immigration attorney partner! Let us introduce who we are, our project and how we can assist you in getting your Green Card through investing in EB-5.
Headquarters
28-07 Jackson Avenue, 8th Fl., Long Island City, NY 11101
+1 (212) 889-5000
info@arcfe.com
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