When Congress failed to reauthorize the EB-5 regional center program on June 30, 2021, most industry stakeholders anticipated a brief lapse of the program. More than seven months have passed, and Congress has neither reauthorized the regional center program nor provided any other solution or relief to the thousands of investors whose immigrant petitions are stranded in the processing queue.
EB5AN is committed to supporting EB-5 investors through this time of uncertainty and frustration. To that end, we recently sent a letter to Congress asking them to act now to reauthorize the EB-5 regional center program.
In that letter, we also voiced support for the Foreign Investor Fairness Protection Act (FIFPA), a draft bill proposed by the American Immigrant Investor Alliance (AIIA). That bill would allow for current regional center investors’ petitions to be adjudicated despite the suspension of the regional center program. FIFPA would provide protection for those investors who placed their capital at risk and filed their immigrant petition while the EB-5 regional center program was authorized but are now stuck waiting since the regional center program has lapsed. If the regional center program is reauthorized, this bill would provide future protection should Congress once again fail to reauthorize the program.
The current situation is not fair to those investors who, in good faith, believing that the EB-5 regional center program offered them a viable path to U.S. permanent resident status, placed a large sum of money at risk and created U.S. jobs. These investors followed the rules and requirements of the regional center program and filed their petitions while the program was active. They deserve to have their petitions adjudicated.
We hope that Congress will finally act to reauthorize the EB-5 regional center program and that it will pass FIFPA or similar legislation into law. Until then, EB5AN will continue to look for solutions to support EB-5 investors.
