The United States EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program is yet again making headlines, thanks to the remarkable judgement passed by the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California on June 22nd 2021, in the case of Behring Regional Center LLC V. Chad Wolf, et al.
In November 2019, EB-5 Modernization Regulations were implemented to raise the minimum investment amount requirement under the USCIS EB-5 program from $500,000 USD to $900,000 USD and revise the Targeted Employment Area (T.E.A) eligibility standards to suit the modern requirements. In this context, the court has ordered to reinstate the minimum investment amount requirement back to $500,000 USD for T.E.A specific projects from the current $900,000 USD and T.E.A eligibility standards, same as before November 21st 2019.
The court ruled that there was no authority to implement the said EB-5 Modernization Regulations as the then-acting DHS Secretary McAleenan was not lawfully serving as Homeland Security Secretary when he promulgated the ‘Final Rule’ which gave effect to these EB-5 Modernization Regulations. Therefore, the Final Rule is void and the EB-5 regulations that came into effect in November 2019 are vacated with immediate effect.
This development has particularly invalidated the November 2019 change in the regulations, thus effectively bringing down the required investment amount back to its pre November 2019 level of $500,000 USD.
However, the industry experts are anticipating that this change will remain into effect for a very limited time period only, as an appeal by the government is still possible, and the regulations may be brought back at a later time.
Further, as the program is due to expire on June 30, 2021 due to the legislative reasons, it may further narrow down the time window for the investors to file at the present decreased price of $500,000 USD. Nevertheless, multifaceted negotiations are still underway to extend the program beyond June 30, 2021 deadline.
Due to the short window of opportunity to file at $500,000 USD for a U.S. Green Card, we encourage all those interested in applying to contact Step Global as soon as possible.
