EB-5 Update: Congress Extends EB-5 Investor Visa, Again.
Yet again, the House and Senate have passed and sent to the White House a continuing resolution that prevented a government shutdown and extended the EB-5 Regional Center Program until March 23, 2018. Invest in the USA (IIUSA), the national membership-based industry trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program, noted in a statement that the continuing resolution provides much-needed time to reach an agreement on a permanent EB-5 program fix:
We believe that this new deadline on March 23rd will be the first time since December of 2015 that EB-5 reform could realistically
have a legislative vehicle for reform and a long-term reauthorization. This gives Congress and the EB-5 industry six more weeks to
come to a consensus on EB-5 negotiations.
Like all previous continuing resolutions, this is only a temporary fix, pushing off any long-term resolution to the EB-5 Investor Visa Program for a little more than a month. “The continuous uncertain future of the EB-5 program with continuing resolution after continuing resolution is creating some concern with project developers and investors,” said EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Attorney Raymond Lahoud, “Permanent or long-term action must be taken given that hundreds of millions of dollars, projects, and, more importantly, the lives of law-abiding individuals are on the line,” said Lahoud, Chair of the Norris McLaughlin & Marcus Immigration Practice Group. Lahoud noted that the “uncertain future of the EB-5 Investor Visa Program and its dependence on the day-to-day politics of congress is asking any EB-5 investor to make a blind investment into the United States.”
Please check back during the next few weeks for updates on a reauthorization of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program in the coming year. To learn more about this or any other immigration matter, feel free to contact me, Raymond G. Lahoud, at rglahoud@nmmlaw.com.
