MCFI-USA: The EB-5 Possibility Center

EB-5 VISA: $500,000 will be $1,350,000

 On January 13, 2017, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that governs the EB-5 Investment Based Green Card Program through the USCIS, issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register that will dramatically change the current program on or before April 28, 2017. 

In the United States, changes are implemented by either the Senate and Congress passing laws that are then signed by the President or; Agencies (such as DHS) can issue changes under regulatory authority and place in the Federal Register of Laws.

The DHS has, using its regulatory authority, announced the following important changes to the regulations:

1) Increase to the Investment Amounts: The DHS is proposing to increase the minimum investments for new EB-5 petitioners, to reflect that the program meets the present day dollar value of the investment.  Projects that are in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), which is an area of high unemployment, will increase from $500,000 to $1.35 million.  The DHS is also proposing to make regular increases to the minimum investment amount every 5 years.

2) TEA Designations: Reform the Targeted Employment Area (TEA) to ensure that designations comply with the original intent of Congress.  DHS allows any city or town with high unemployment and a population of 20,000 or more to qualify as a TEA.  Currently, a state designates the city or town as TEA.   The DHS proposes to eliminate the ability of a state to designate certain geographic and political subdivisions as high unemployment areas, instead making the designations directly.  

3) Priority Date Retention: The DHS proposes to authorize certain petitioners to retain their priority date of an approved immigrant investor petition for use in connection with any subsequent EB-5 immigrant petition.  The priority date retention would be a valuable change due to strong possibilities that the EB-5 visa category will remain oversubscribed in the future.  The priority date is the date the petition was filed with the USCIS.  Typically, when the high demand of visas exceeds the number allocated for the visa category a priority date is considered more advantageous.

“This was an unexpected and swift ruling by the DHS, as we had been anticipating changes proposed by the Senate and Congress closer to the April 28th deadline.  The time is now to file for EB-5, while the minimum investment is $500,000. until the comment period of April 11th”  warns Dr. Jay Sheth, Managing Partner of MCFI.

The EB-5 investment grants green cards to the entire family which includes the investor, spouse, and any unmarried children under the age of 21.  For each investor and their family, 10 jobs need to be created on their behalf to be eligible to receive a permanent green card.

Investors can enjoy the benefits of living and working anywhere in the United States, sponsor green cards for relatives, travel abroad and return to the United States without an additional visa, study in the United States at resident cost and after 5 years of eligible stay, apply for United States citizenship. 

With this new ruling of $1.35 million, applicants are highly encouraged to contact the MCFI Regional Centers immediately to initiate their petition filing before the April 28th deadline..  Dr. Sheth recommends to invest only in a project that is approved by the USCIS, with other investors that have already received green cards for their family.   MCFI clients from India, China, Nigeria, Egypt, and Dubai, who have invested in USCIS approved projects, have already received Green Cards and are living and working in the United States.  

Based on MCFI’s extensive experience, compiling personal and financial documents takes the most time for the applicant to collect, not facilitating the funds.  In order to initiate filing, applicants should be able to provide the following documents for their immediate family:  Passports, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificate, 6 months of Bank Statements and 5 Years of Tax Returns.  After this information is gathered by working with the investor, MCFI Regional Center forwards the documents on to an immigration attorney for review.  Average preparation time for a petition filing takes approximately 2-3 weeks once your appointed immigration attorney reviews and submits the file to USCIS.

Appointed by USCIS in 2010, The Midwest Center for Foreign Investment (MCFI) Regional Center has convenient offices in Atlanta, Louisville, Kentucky and Houston, Texas.  MCFI also has 2 offices in India located in Ahmedabad and Baroda in Gujarat.  MCFI’s website is www.mcfiusa.com

MCFI offers a wide range of investment opportunities such as a USCIS approved mixed use development, a 96 bed hospital and an assisted living facility.  

Our USA and India teams from MCFI Regional Centers are available to answer any questions and can provide assistance to applicants.    

For more information on MCFI and the EB-5 program in USA, please contact Dr. Jay Sheth at j.sheth@mcfiusa.com, Leigh Bodenheimer, at l.bodenheimer@mcfiusa.com or call 1-678-302-0707.  To reach MCFI India, please contact Mitesh Sheth at m.sheth@mcfiusa.com, or Jignesh Vora at j.vora@mcfiusa.com.  MCFI India can be reached by phone or Whatsapp at +91 99099 91381 or +91 98242 99776.