Representatives Aaron Schock (IL-18) Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Future Caucus, introduced a new bipartisan immigration bill, H.R. 4659 or the EB-5 Regional Center Extension Act of 2014, which would permanently authorize the EB-5 Regional Center Program and eliminate per country caps on visa allocations.
This week, Congressman Aaron Schock (IL-18) and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) circulated a letter to their House colleagues urging them to Cosponsor H.R. 4659 or the “EB-5 Regional Center Extension Act of 2014.” The new bipartisan immigration bill, which was introduced would permanently authorize the EB-5 Regional Center Program and eliminate per country caps on visa allocations. You can read the letter here or below.
IIUSA encourages you to contact your member of Congress and urge them to sign on to H.R. 4659.
- To find your representative, click here.
- Additionally, this document is a great tool to empower your member of Congress with pertinent information about how EB-5 is working to create American jobs and thus stronger communities all around the country.
Support American Job Creation and Investment
Cosponsor H.R. 4659 to make the EB-5 Regional Center Program Permanent
Dear Colleague:
Please join us in supporting H.R. 4659, the EB-5 Regional Center Extension Act, legislation that will create American jobs and drive economic development by increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in our communities. It would also streamline the employment visa system by removing the arbitrary caps on the number of visas from individuals.
The EB-5 Regional Center Program has been in existence for two decades and has had an enormous positive economic impact. From 2005-20013, $6.5 billion was invested in projects around the country supporting 131,000 American jobs. The vast majority of these jobs are created in areas that are experiencing high unemployment or rural areas where traditional sources of financing and more expensive and difficult to come by. All of these benefits come without any cost to the American taxpayer. In fact, EB-5 projects generated $265 million in state and local taxes and $448 million in federal taxes in 2012.
Economic development projects funded through EB-5 serve a diverse array of needs in communities across the country, from hospitals and assisted living facilities, to hotels and transformative rehabilitations of unused spaces. Making the EB-5 Regional Center Program permanent will give investor and entrepreneurs the certainty they need to continue and expand these beneficial trends.
Additionally, H.R. 4659 would remove the antiquated caps on the number of visas available to qualified applicants from individual countries. Currently, applicants form the highest petitioning countries face year of waiting for employment-based visas, depriving U.S. businesses of these applicants’ skills and investments.
Please Contact Kelli Ripp (kelli.ripp@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Schock’s office or Anthony Ching (Anthony.ching@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Gabbard’s office to sign on to this job-creating legislation.
Respectfully,
Aaron Schock Tulsi Gabbard
Member of Congress Member of Congress
