The Expiration of the Regional Center EB-5 Visa Program

The Regional Center Pilot Program is significant to each investor until the investor receives Unconditional Lawful Permanent Residence. Each of the three immigration stages to be completed by the investor in a Regional Center EB-5 project is dependent upon the existence of the Regional Center as authorized by the Pilot Program. Some government agencies that confer immigration benefits upon EB-5 investors have announced that they are not authorized to confer such benefits (e.g., approve an I-526 Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, approve an I-485, application to adjust status or grant an immigrant visa to an EB-5 investor or approve an I-829, petition by entrepreneur to remove conditions) once the Regional Center Pilot Program expires. The investor’s qualifying relatives are subject to the same outcomes as the investor if the Regional Center Pilot Program expires.

The Regional Center Pilot Program was first created in 1992. Since then it has been extended, most recently in 2009, until September 30, 2012. This Project seeks the benefit of the Regional Center Pilot Program that permits employment created indirectly by investments in the Project to be counted towards the minimum number of employment positions needed to qualify a foreign investor, the investor’s spouse and the qualifying children of the investor to have conditions removed. Currently, there are about seventy (70) Regional Centers in the U.S., a number that has grown quickly over the prior two years. USCIS reports that EB-5 petitions are increasing in Regional Centers. Assuming this statistic to be accurate and given the growth in the number of Regional Centers, some predict that the Regional Center Pilot Program will be extended beyond September 30, 2012. There is no reliable means to know if the Regional Center program will be extended.

The Regional Center Pilot Program may be made a permanent program through the introduction and passage of independent legislation or as a component of prospective comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Previous efforts to make the program permanent have failed. This permanence of the program cannot be assured.