Over 100 EB-5 regional centers have received notices of intent to terminate (NOITs) from USCIS, including several well-known regional center operators. NOITs are issued when a regional center fails to comply with USCIS policies.
USCIS issued this series of NOITs because many EB-5 regional centers failed to pay the mandatory annual fees for the EB-5 Integrity Fund. By some estimates, as many as 25% of all regional centers have received NOITs due to nonpayment.
EB5AN is pleased to announce that we have no pending NOITs, and we have paid all required Integrity Fund fees to date. Additionally, every single one of our active regional centers is in good standing and has received I-956 approval from USCIS.
If a regional center does not provide a satisfactory response to an NOIT, USCIS will then proceed with a formal notice of termination.
This development highlights EB5AN’s status as an industry leader in USCIS compliance and transparency.
Sam Silverman, a managing partner of EB5AN, had this to say: “When considering any EB-5 project, EB-5 investors should proactively ask if the regional center sponsoring that project has a pending NOIT. If the answer is yes, investors should avoid that EB-5 project and any others offered by that regional center sponsor, period.”
This step is critical to protect investors’ funds and immigration goals.
“Having no pending NOITs shows our EB-5 investors that we take compliance seriously and proactively adjust to new policies,” Silverman notes. “We will continue to create the best experience for our EB-5 investors, helping them get U.S. Green Cards without unnecessary risks or delays caused by non-compliance.”
In this post, we provide background on the EB-5 Integrity Fund and the related NOITs. We then examine EB5AN’s proactive approach to USCIS compliance.
The EB-5 Integrity Fund: An Annual Fee for Regional Centers
USCIS Updates Its Policy on Regional Center Noncompliance
USCIS Issues NOITs for Multiple Regional Centers
EB5AN’s Commitment to USCIS Compliance
Ensuring Compliance with EB-5 Policy Changes
Further Reading
The EB-5 Integrity Fund: An Annual Fee for Regional Centers
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (the RIA) introduced several new policies to increase fund oversight, transparency, and accountability for regional centers. One of the most noteworthy changes was the introduction of the EB-5 Integrity Fund.
The purpose of the EB-5 Integrity Fund is to provide USCIS with further resources to detect fraud in the EB-5 industry, conduct audits and site visits, and ensure that EB-5 entities comply with the RIA.
The EB-5 Integrity Fund is financed through annual fees paid by regional centers, and the amount a regional center is required to pay each fiscal year depends on the number of investors in a regional center’s sponsored projects.
Regional centers with fewer than 20 investors during the previous year pay a fee of $10,000. If a regional center had more than 20 investors during this period, it must pay $20,000.
The Integrity Fund’s annual fee is due on October 1st of each fiscal year. USCIS has indicated that it will terminate regional centers that fail to pay the fee within 90 days of the due date.
Regional centers were first required to pay Integrity Fund fees for the 2023 fiscal year. However, USCIS made an exception for the 2023 fiscal year and determined that the fee would be due by April 1, 2023.
The Integrity Fund fee for the 2024 fiscal year was due on the normal date of October 1, 2023.
USCIS Updates Its Policy on Regional Center Noncompliance
In 2023, USCIS warned that regional centers that failed to pay the Integrity Fund fee in 2023 would be terminated in 2024.
Then, on July 16, 2024, USCIS issued a policy alert explaining the sanctions for regional centers that fail to comply with the RIA’s requirements.
The policy alert explains which situations could cause a regional center to be suspended, terminated, debarred, or otherwise sanctioned by USCIS. The adjusted policies are already reflected in Part G, Investors, in Volume 6 of the USCIS Policy Manual.
One of the key sections of the policy alert states that “the reforms add new authority for USCIS to sanction regional centers at various levels for noncompliance with statutory requirements, such as paying the EB-5 Integrity Fund fee.”
USCIS Issues NOITs for Multiple Regional Centers
USCIS issued the recent NOITs due to regional centers’ nonpayment of the annual Integrity Fund fees.
Under “Regional Center Terminations,” the USCIS website states the following: “USCIS must give a regional center 30 days from the center’s receipt of the Notice of Intent to Terminate (NOIT) to offer evidence opposing the ground or grounds alleged in the notice … We review any response to the NOIT and decide whether to terminate the regional center’s designation.”
If a regional center is terminated, it can appeal this decision.
EB5AN’s Commitment to USCIS Compliance
As mentioned above, EB5AN has no pending NOITs.
All of our active regional centers have already paid the required Integrity Fund fees for both fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024.
EB5AN has over 10 active regional centers that cover the entire continental United States. Because of the large scope of our regional center coverage area, our compliance with USCIS policies is especially noteworthy.
EB5AN also enjoys a 100% USCIS approval rate for all of its regional centers and managed EB-5 regional center projects.
To prove their compliance with the new policies, all regional centers were required to submit Form I-956 after the RIA was signed into law. Notably, all of EB5AN’s active regional centers have already received I-956 approval from USCIS.
Furthermore, EB5AN’s EB-5 projects have received 10 I-956F approvals—USCIS uses Form I-956F to ensure that an EB-5 project is compliant with its current policies.
To our knowledge, we have obtained the most I-956F approvals in the EB-5 industry. We were also the first—and possibly still the only—EB-5 operator whose regional centers cover 100% of the continental United States.
“Proactivity is the name of the game for EB-5 operators,” notes Mike Schoenfeld, a managing partner of EB5AN. “When the RIA was signed into law, we quickly adjusted to USCIS’s changing policies. With all of our regional centers in good standing and no pending NOITs, our investors’ funds and immigration goals are safe.”
In an article published by Forbes Business Council, Silverman comments on the importance of remaining USCIS compliant: “In the heavily regulated EB-5 industry, knowing what laws and rules have been clarified through judicial decisions and USCIS updates is essential to ensure that EB-5 investments and investors remain protected.”
Ensuring Compliance with EB-5 Policy Changes
Through numerous reforms and policy updates since 2022, USCIS has created a fast-changing regulatory environment for the EB-5 industry.
We are proud of EB5AN’s track record of quickly adjusting to each new policy.
Our goal is to protect EB-5 investors from unnecessary risk and ensure they qualify for U.S. Green Cards. Our investors’ success is our success, and we will always comply with all of USCIS’s changing requirements so as not to endanger our investors’ EB-5 applications.
“The key is to closely follow policy changes and make needed adjustments as quickly as possible,” concludes Silverman. “EB5AN’s investors can be confident that their funds and immigration goals are safe with our regional center–sponsored projects.”
Further Reading
- Forbes Business Council post by Sam Silverman: How To Monitor Industry Trends To Ensure Business Success
- EB5AN Analysis: New USCIS Guidance on EB-5 Regional Center Noncompliance
- EB5AN Analysis: An Overview of the New EB-5 Integrity Fund
