IIUSA is pleased to report on a successful and productive day in Washington DC on Tuesday March 5th at the USCIS Ombudsman EB-5 Stakeholder meeting and the IIUSA Economic Development Breakfast. At the meetings, IIUSA met with government officials, stakeholders, and strategic partners to discuss the success and future development of the EB-5 Program.
Judiciary Committee staffers from Senator Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) office (Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee) and Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) (Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committe) office attended the breakfast and participated in an engaging discussion, moderated by President David Andersson. The dialogue included such topics as the prospects of comprehensive immigration reform, EB-5 Regional Center Program reform, as well as what might happen if immigration reform does not end up moving all the way through both sides of Congress. They also discussed some potential strategies to implement in order to get the EB-5 Program reauthorized and approved, separate and apart from the larger debate surrounding comprehensive immigration reform and to improve processing times and USCIS policy development/implementation.
After the Breakfast, the day’s events shifted over to the CIS Ombudsman’s EB-5 Stakeholders Meeting. The last time the Ombudsman’s Office issued formal recommendations to USCIS regarding the EB-5 Program was back in 2009, which USCIS responded to a few months later. IIUSA welcomes the support and interest of the Ombudsman’s Office in increasing EB-5 policy clarity as well as reforming the inefficient and unpredictable EB-5 application approval process. IIUSA is looking forward to working with the CIS Ombudsman’s Office to issue new recommendations on the Program.
- Peter D. Joseph (IIUSA Executive Director), Lincoln Stone (Vice Chair, AILA EB-5 Committee), and Bill Yates (former USCIS Immigration Officer) speak at the CIS Ombudsman Meeting on the EB-5 Program.
