There are new rule changes that will be brought to the EB-5 program, which are going to officially come into effect on 21st November 2019.
These changes include priority date retention to certain EB-5 investors, increase to the required minimum investment amounts, reforms targeted employment area designations, clarification for the USCIS procedures for the removal of conditions on permanent residence and there may be other technical and conforming revisions to be made.
In regards to the priority date retention, specific investors would be able to retain their priority date from their previous petition when applying for a new petition.
As for the increased investment price for TEA, it will no longer be $500,000 but now $900,000. Further, non – TEA costs has also been raised to $1.8million from $1million. Along with the increased cost of the petitions there will also be other conditions that will be applied to the changes, which is to be revisited every 5 years.
In addition to this the state or local government will no longer be making any TEA designations, this will all be managed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They will review and conclude on the designation of high-unemployment TEAs.
Within these changes, there is a chance that cities with a population of 20,000+ outside of metropolitan statistical areas with be included as a TEA, on the condition that they have had at least a 150% unemployment rate of the national average. This allows the investment to be guided to the areas that requires development and employment the most.
There are also clarifications to the procedures for the removal on conditions on permanent residence. This rule will make clear when derivative family members who are lawful permanent citizens would have to file to remove conditions on their permanent residence. This clarification will cover a larger area for interview locations and update the regulations to show the Green card issuing process.
Since the price increase is coming into effect on 21st November 2019, applicants should grab the opportunity to file their EB-5 petition before then.
