IIUSA is pleased to announce that yesterday, after much feedback and interaction with IIUSA and other Program stakeholders, USCIS Director, Alejandro N. Mayoraks, posted the following message to the USCIS blog, titled “The EB-5 Program: Creating Jobs in America”:
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
The EB-5 Program: Creating Jobs in America
As many of you know, we at USCIS are reviewing our policies and practices to ensure our careful and thoughtful administration of our nation’s immigration laws. A hallmark of our review is our engagement with you; your ideas and comments inform our decisions as we strive to implement the best ideas.
Through our review, your input and other analysis, we have identified needed improvements to a wide array of policies and practices. Some of these improvements have been implemented and many are to follow. We look forward to your feedback as we make continued progress on these improvements.
As part of our broad review, and echoing President Obama’s call to promote immigrants’ entrepreneurial spirit, we have focused on the Immigrant Investor Program, commonly referred to as the EB-5 Program. It is a program designed to attract investors and entrepreneurs from around the world to create jobs in America. In the two decades since its creation, the EB-5 Program has never met the annual cap of 10,000 visas.
The EB-5 Program often involves complex applications and sophisticated business projects that require prompt attention and expert review in order to achieve their potential. Our focus on this program, and the input you have provided, has led us to propose a series of significant improvements to it. These changes include an accelerated adjudications process, with premium processing; the creation of specialized intake teams to handle the Form I-924 applications, coupled with the applicants’ ability to communicate directly with the specialized intake teams via email; and, the creation of an expert Decision Board to render decisions on the Form I-924 applications and to afford applicants with an in-person or telephonic interview to resolve issues.
Our proposal for the improvement of the EB-5 Program is available here. In keeping with our commitment to soliciting your ideas and input, we have posted the proposal for public comment. We will accept your comments at[email protected] for 20 business days, until June 17, 2011.
We recognize the importance of the EB-5 Program and its goal of creating jobs. We recognize the importance of all of our policies and practices in realizing the goals of our nation’s immigration system. Thank you for working with us in service of those goals.
Alejandro N. Mayorkas
USCIS Director
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
IIUSA appreciates the opportunity to comment, and will do so. IIUSA also applauds USCIS’ recognition of the importance of the EB-5 Regional Center Program as a tool of economic development and job creation in the 21st century.
