Published on 05/18/2015
Hello, my name is Vaughan de Kirby, and I have in my hand today a letter from the Director of Homeland Security to Charles Grassly, who is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the ranking member Patrick Lehy; but before I talk about the letter, let me give you a little history.
EB-5 began in 1990 and the amounts of the investment were set in 1990 at $500,000.00 in a target employment area, and 1 million dollars in any other area. Then, in 1992, the Regional Center Program was adopted, and it was a pilot program and it remains the pilot program. It will sunset on September 30, 2015. That means in September, the EB-5 program will change, and we really don’t know how it’s going to change; but one of the things that I wanted to let you know today is that it is probable that it is going to result in an increase in the investment amount.
As the investment amount was set back in 1990 and 1992, it is clear that we have had inflation since that time, and it is predicted that the investment amount will increase by up to 70 percent. That means you would be investing probably over $800,000.00 to obtain the same immigration benefits you would at today’s $500,000.00. I’ve been lecturing on this point now for over a year, that I thought this was going to happen; but recently, in this letter, the Director of Homeland Security made it very clear that it is not only probable that this is going to happen, the question is how soon and how much the amount is going to be raised.
One very important aspect of this letter is that the Director of Homeland Security not only says that Congress could raise the amount of the investment, the Director says that they have the authority to raise the investment amount by regulation. That means that Homeland Security could raise the amount that you would need to invest to obtain your Green Card even if Congress didn’t act.
Now, the pilot program is the Regional Center Program you’re familiar with. We all predict and we hope that this will be made permanent, but if it is made permanent in September, it will result in an increased investment amount. That is the recommendation of the Director of Homeland Security to the Chairman of the Senate Committee that is going to be adopting the law and putting it on the floor of the Senate.
What does this mean to you? This means that if you have a real interest in obtaining your Green Card through EB-5, you should act as soon as you’re able; because if you wait, if you wait until next year, you don’t know how much you’re going to invest.
I hope this information was helpful to you. I recommend you talk to your investment immigration attorney soon, and make sure that if you do want to apply for EB-5, you do it before the investment amount increases so drastically. Thank you. I hope this was helpful to you. For more details about this potential change, please view our news article, Significant Increases In EB-5 Investment Amount Expected Summer 2015.
