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2015 Visa Statistics, RC Termination, SEC Action, New RCs
2015 EB-5 Visa Statistics Update: This section has been deleted as I realize I made an error, reporting only visas issued at consulates instead of waiting for the data table that also includes visas...
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Legislative Update: bill text with simple extension
Last night Congressional leaders finalized the text of Senate amendment to H.R. 2029 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 [Consolidated...
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RC Program Extended to 9/30/2016
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, which includes a sentence authorizing the Regional Center program through September 30, 2016 (in Section 575 on PDF page 285) has been passed by Congress and...
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Thinking about RC legislation (with comparison chart)
The Regional Center Program has just eight months before it needs another authorization from Congress. Significant EB-5 legislation may be unlikely this election year (I hear people hoping for another...
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RC Hearing, RC List Update
2/2 Hearing on the Regional Center Program The Senate Judiciary Committee/Senator Grassley have titled next week’s hearing “The Failures and Future of the EB-5 Regional Center Program: Can it be...
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2/2 Senate Hearing Detail
If you are involved in the regional center program, you should review what happened today in the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on “The Failures and Future of the EB-5 Regional Center Program: Can...
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2/11 House Hearing Detail
You can now review video, testimonies, and statements from today’s House Judiciary Committee Hearing “Is the Investor Visa Program an Underperforming Asset?” (FYI, I’ve also uploaded my audio...
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H.R.4530, Resources, RC List Update
H.R.4530 Introduced Even as Representatives Goodlatte, Conyers, Issa, and Lofgren (who worked with Senators Leahy and Grassley on their legislation last year) were speaking in yesterday’s House EB-5...
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3/2 Senate TEA Hearing
The Senate Judiciary Committee is more serious about EB-5 than I expected, and already has another hearing scheduled for next week, on Wednesday March 2, with the provocative title The Distortion of...
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4/13 Hearing, 2016 AAO Decisions (NCE requirement), RC List Changes
Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Rescheduled 4/13 The Senate Judiciary Committee’s provocatively titled hearing on The Distortion of EB-5 Targeted Employment Areas: Time to End the Abuse has been...
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4/13 Senate Hearing Notes, RC Research, SEC Case (VT), RC List Changes
Senate TEA Hearing You can now review video of the 4/13 hearing on EB-5 targeted employment areas on the Senate Judiciary Committee website (be patient, the video does start eventually), or download my...
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4/25 Meeting Questions, Program Changes, New RCs
Discussing EB-5 Changes with USCIS Next Monday 4/25 USCIS will hold an EB-5 listening session to give stakeholders a chance “to provide feedback on potential EB-5 regulatory and other policy changes.”...
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4/25 meeting notes, RC list changes
4/25/2016 Listening Session Today’s EB-5 stakeholder meeting with USCIS was indeed a listening session — a venue for stakeholder opinions and not for tips and answers from USCIS. In case you’re a...
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AAO Decisions, RC List Changes
Newly-Posted AAO Decisions on I-526 Cases (existing business, business plan credibility, material change, indebtedness) Several interesting 2016 AAO decisions on I-526 cases were uploaded this week to...
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Changes from DHS and/or Congress? RC List Updates
Regulatory Changes How close are we to getting the revised EB-5 regulations promised by USCIS? My best guess is: pretty close — at least by Spring 2025. The rulemaking process for a federal agency...
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RC Sanctioned $1M for Agent Payments
Last December, the Securities and Exchange Commission made examples of several parties (mostly immigration lawyers) found to have violated Section 15(a)(1) of the Exchange Act by acting as unregistered...
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New Regs, TEAs, RC Audits, RC Designation AAO, RC List Changes
New EB-5 Regulations Update In testifying before the June 30, 2016 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of Homeland Security Operations, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson briefly commented on...
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RC designation: use it or lose it (AAO termination decisions)
What is an EB-5 regional center? What kind of tool is the regional center program meant to be? These questions do not have clear answers. We can see USCIS’s uncertainty in its continually changing...
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7/28 Meeting Notes (RC site visits & audits, I-829 interviews, redeployment),...
7/28 Stakeholder Meeting If you would like to review today’s USCIS EB-5 stakeholder engagement, best talk to someone who attended the meeting in person in Miami. I’ve uploaded my recording as usual,...
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8/29 USCIS meeting (policy timeline, minor petitioners, RFC, more), AAO...
EB-5 World kept busy during my annual wilderness week, so this post is a long one. Before I get into detail, here are a few headlines: No new EB-5 policy or guidance likely this year, IPO steps up...
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