U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency will host a stakeholder engagement on March 20 to cover a host of industry topics. Including changes to direct and third-party promoter requirements and sustainment period requirements under the RIA. The call will also focus on regional center operations, specifically on those Regional Centers that may no longer be looking to solict new investors.
IIUSA is thankful for the opportunity as there are many unaddressed questions that the industry needs clarity on. We will work to submit questions on the industry’s behalf and encourage other stakeholders to do so as well by emailing public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov with the subject line “Question: EB-5 Engagement March 20, 2023” by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10.
From USCIS:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) invites you to participate in a stakeholder engagement on Monday, March 20, 2023, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Eastern.
During the first part of the engagement, USCIS will discuss three specific areas within the Immigrant Investor Program.
The three topics are:
- Direct and Third-Party Promoters: A promoter should submit Form I-956K, Registration for Direct and Third-Party Promoters, before operating on behalf of any of the specified entities or promoting any offering under the EB-5 Regional Center Program. The promoter must submit Form I-956K separate from the Form I-956F, Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise, to seek an approval of an investment in a commercial enterprise.
- Investment Period: USCIS will discuss the requirements for an immigrant investor to sustain their investment if they filed Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, before March 15, 2022, and the new requirement under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) that capital must be expected to remain invested for at least two years for those who filed an I-526 or Form I-526E on or after March 15, 2022.
- Regional Center Operations: We will discuss issues related to regional center operations, in particular those who wish to withdraw from the program and terminate their status and those who do not wish to solicit investments for new projects under the RIA.
We will then hold a Q&A to hear questions, comments, and individual feedback from stakeholders on these three topics. Although we are interested in receiving overall feedback about the EB-5 program, we would appreciate focusing the Q&A portion of the engagement on the topics above.
We will not address case-specific questions, questions outside the scope of the engagement, or issues under active litigation or likely to be litigated. We are committed to public engagement, and sessions like this provide valuable feedback as we work to improve our programs. Participation in this engagement will be virtual.
Questions for consideration:
If you would like to submit a question in advance on one of the three topics we will be covering during this engagement (direct and third party promoters, sustainment, or regional center operations), please send your question to the Public Engagement mailbox at public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov with the subject line “Question: EB-5 Engagement March 20, 2023” by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10.
