EB-5 News Blog
Bridge Financing: Indepth Look at the New Policy Memo
(Background information for EB-5 beginners: In many EB-5 deals the investors’ funds are placed into an escrow account until the I-526s are approved. With I-526 approvals taking well over a year this is causing a big gap in project financing schedules. As a result, many EB-5 project developers take out interim financing (or bridge loans) so they can continue building while the I-526s are pending. […]
The JOBS Act & EB-5
The SEC has finally issued regulations implementing the portion of the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act), enacted more than a year ago, allowing an issuer enjoying exemption from registration under Rule 506 of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933 to engage in general solicitation and advertising. What does this mean for EB-5? […]
Immigration Reform & EB-5
On June 27, 2013 the Senate successfully passed S. 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.” Read the AILA/AIC section-by-section summary of the bill that was passed in the Senate. At this point, as explained in more detail in this Washington Post blog post, nobody really knows what the House is going to do, if anything. […]
New EB-5 Policy Memo
After a very lengthy process, the USCIS finally issued its final EB-5 Adjudications Policy Memorandum on May 30, 2013. The full text of the new policy memo can be found here. Policy memos in the context of immigration are like instruction manuals for the officers that review the filings. While the statutes and regulations provide the big framework of an immigration policy, it is the policy memos and the AFM (Adjudicators Field Manual) that shed light on the technical details [...]
E-2 vs. EB-5
One of the most common questions I receive is how is the E-2 is different from the EB-5. The E-2 is a non-immigrant investor visa allows an individual to enter and work in the United States based on an investment he or she will be controlling. This visa must be renewed every two years and theoretically there is no limit to how many times one can renew as long as the investor continues to operate the business. […]
Chinese Quota Retrogression – Explained
You have probably heard that the EB-5 quota for China is expected to retrogress in 2013. But what does that mean? Let me break it down for you. Two-Step Process To explain retrogression, I need to back up a little and explain how the U.S. greencard process works. There are two main ways that a foreigner can obtain a greencard in the United States: through a family relationship or through an employment relationship. The application process is a two-step process: [...]