The EB-5 Securities Roundtable, a group of securities law practitioners with extensive experience in EB-5 securities offerings (the “Roundtable”), has developed the following checklist (“Checklist”) of the major categories of policies and procedures that should be included in a regional center’s Compliance Policies and Procedures Manual to conform to the requirements of the recently-codified EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (the “EB-5 Reform Act”). Each regional center (“Regional Center”) may have their own policies and procedures for addressing these issues, but each Regional Center should address all of these categories in order to fully comply with the integrity provisions of the EB-5 Reform Act. Some Regional Centers may already have their own written standard operating procedures (“SOPs”), which may include some of the policies that would address these issues. In those cases, the Regional Center should review its existing SOPs to determine if all of the issues described in this Checklist are covered, and add in any issues that have not been covered. Alternatively, a Regional Center could adopt a separate Compliance Manual that addresses the additional issues, with the caveat that the SOP and Compliance Manual must be consistent.
The Checklist provided below is based on the Roundtable members’ collective review and analysis of the issues that should be included in a comprehensive regional center compliance manual to maximize compliance with the EB-5 Reform Act. As of the date of this article, USCIS has not issued any detailed regulations or other guidance regarding the contents of the written policies and procedures required by the EB-5 Reform Act. It is possible that USCIS may include additional requirements, items that are not included in this Checklist. This Checklist is not intended to serve as legal advice, and is not a substitute for each regional center’s review of its own internal policies and procedures with its own legal counsel. However, the Roundtable hopes that this Checklist will provide a helpful start for each Regional Center seeking to comply with the new requirements of the EB-5 Reform Act.
About the EB-5 Securities Roundtable
The EB-5 Securities Roundtable was initially organized by Kurt Reuss, the founder of eb5Marketplace, in 2014 and is an informal, independent group of EB-5 securities attorneys organized to facilitate best practices in the offerings of EB-5 securities. The EB5 Securities Roundtable is not affiliated with any EB-5 industry organization, regional center, offeror of EB-5 securities or job-creating recipient of EB-5 funds, and it receives no outside financial contributions. The following industry leading securities attorneys are its current members: Robert Cornish, Ronald Fieldstone, Lulu Gordon, Douglass Hauer, Catherine DeBono Holmes, Michael Homeier, Mark Katzoff, Charles Kaufman, Mariza McKee, Jay Rosen, Bruce Rosetto, John Tishler and Osvaldo F. Torres.
