Since the beginning of the year, positive news regarding the EB-5 program has been pouring in.
First, on February 11, Canada issued a notice terminating the long-standing "Federal Investor Immigration" and "Federal Entrepreneur Immigration" programs. Tens of thousands of Chinese investment immigration applicants were suddenly left disillusioned, with many turning to the United States next door.
Then, on March 6, Democratic Congressman Jared Polis from Colorado and Congressman Joe Garcia from Florida, along with Republican Congressman Matt Salmon from Arizona and Congressman Mark Amodei from Nevada, jointly proposed the "American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act of 2014" aimed at reforming the existing EB-5 investment law.
The main highlight of this proposal is to prevent the expiration of regional center projects in September 2015, proposing the permanent establishment of regional centers, and further improving the operation of regional centers by enhancing key factors such as increasing the efficiency of the EB-5 program, adjusting the conditional permanent residency requirements for investors, exempting qualified immediate family members of investors from the quota limitations of this category, and removing country-specific restrictions on immigration visas. This last point is particularly important for the visa quota scheduling issues concerning mainland China. Additionally, the proposal requires that the minimum investment amount be adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index of 2015, with automatic adjustments every five years, making it likely that the minimum investment amount of $500,000 will increase with the price index. Currently, this bill has only been submitted to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and when it will be reviewed remains uncertain.
According to the "International Talent Blue Book: China International Migration Report (2014)" published by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and the Social Sciences Academic Press, the number of foreign-born Chinese immigrants (including those from mainland China and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) residing in the United States in 2011 was 2.231 million, accounting for 5.5% of the total immigrant population, making it the largest Asian group in the United States. At the same time, the United States is also the preferred destination for Chinese overseas immigrants. In just 2012 and 2013, the EB-5 funds directly invested in the U.S. economy reached as high as $7 billion to $8 billion, creating nearly 200,000 new jobs. In addition to the EB-5 investment principal, this wealthy group also brought in over $20 billion in consumption and investment funds to the United States.
Industry insiders believe that the U.S. government is increasingly valuing the EB-5 program. At the end of last year, Nicolas Colucci, the former head of financial crime analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, was appointed as the director of the EB-5 program office at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In a conference call on February 26 this year, Colucci proposed goals such as laying a solid foundation for the EB-5 program, enhancing project performance and expectations, and improving customer service and transparency, which undoubtedly signals further positive developments for EB-5.
The U.S. government's "goodwill" does not stop there. U.S. economist Kevin Wright stated at the 2014 Investment in America (Shanghai) Summit Forum that each EB-5 investor can now choose "composite investment" to mitigate risks: "If a regional center has several projects, investors can spread their funds across different projects, as long as they collectively create 10 jobs, it is acceptable."
In light of the various benefits released by the U.S. EB-5 investment immigration program, WorldWay Immigration experts believe that for Chinese investors, EB-5 is no longer a "game for the wealthy"; more and more middle-class families are joining the investment immigration ranks for their children's education. This means that $500,000 is not a small amount for them, and they are increasingly focused on the safety of the EB-5 projects themselves. For individual investors, even if you understand English and have visited the EB-5 project site, it does not mean you have the ability to judge whether it is a worthy investment project. This is because EB-5 projects require a comprehensive evaluation by immigration lawyers, economic experts, and tax specialists, and each project needs to be carefully scrutinized.
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