Recently, in the article "Worldway Immigration Group Exclusively Releases the 'Five Major Immigration Trends of 2018'," Worldway immigration experts predicted that following the U.S. tax reform, the Trump administration would initiate the most significant comprehensive immigration law reform in the United States in 30 years.
This is indeed the case. Just as 2018 began, Trump pressed his advantage by introducing a major H1B proposal and setting strict conditions for resolving the DACA immigration bill, stating that any legislation to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) issue must include provisions for a border wall, the end of chain migration, and the elimination of the green card lottery. This series of measures indicates that U.S. immigration policy may tighten to an unprecedented degree, and a "glacial age" for U.S. immigration may be approaching.
Currently, for quota-restricted U.S. family-based immigration, according to the latest U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin for January 2018, the waiting period for the F1 category (unmarried children of U.S. citizens) has reached 6 years and 10 months, while the wait for the F4 category (siblings of adult U.S. citizens) is as long as 13 years and 7 months.
Under the influence of the "America First" policy, Trump's shift away from the family-based immigration system toward a merit-based system would represent the most radical change to the U.S. immigration system in 30 years. It would terminate the "chain migration" system of family-based immigration, where one person brings in another, and replace it with a "points-based system" that emphasizes education and employment potential—in other words, a "merit-based immigration system."
Once the merit-based immigration reform pushed by Trump is truly implemented in the United States, the conditions for immigrating to the U.S. will become extremely stringent. Even the EB-5 investment immigration program, which is highly popular among investors, will no longer be a simple matter of investing a certain amount of money and creating a certain number of jobs to obtain a green card. EB-5 investment immigration may also be incorporated into a points system, with evaluation criteria including investment amount, the investor's educational background, English proficiency, business background, financial status, and professional skills. For applicants, this undoubtedly narrows the pathway and raises the threshold.
Under these circumstances, those who have already obtained approval through the simple investment method of the EB-5 program and are merely waiting for their green cards are the lucky ones of this era.
At the same time, the reform of the U.S. EB-5 Regional Center Program, which has received high attention from the industry and investors, may also be nearing its end. Under the pressure of extremely strict administrative reform plans from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Congress may accelerate the reform process of the EB-5 bill, and the introduction of a new bill is imminent. It is expected that the EB-5 investment amount will rise to over $1 million, at which point investors will face the dual pressure of visa backlogs and increased investment costs.
Before the new bill takes effect, investors who have already applied for U.S. immigration at the low price of $500,000 are incredibly fortunate, as they only need to wait for their priority date after approval, without being affected by the price increase.
Furthermore, the U.S. EB-5 investment immigration visa backlog has become one of the issues of concern for the industry and investors. However, the current visa backlog is based on existing immigration policies. Various sectors in the U.S. have now realized the importance of the backlog, and it is believed that the U.S. EB-5 backlog issue will eventually be alleviated or fundamentally resolved.
For investors, the backlog is actually a very transparent timeline. While waiting for the priority date, investors can make early preparations for their move to the U.S., financial planning, and language learning, and deepen their understanding of the United States. Families with intentions for their children to study abroad can have them enter the U.S. as international students first.
At the same time, various sectors in the U.S. have proposed solutions for the backlog. For example, the Department of State's Visa Office has proposed a one-time use of unused visas accumulated over the years to resolve the backlog. From a legislative perspective, Congress has proposed clarifying that EB-5 visa quotas should not count the spouse and children of the principal applicant (counting only the principal). If calculated at 2.7 visa quotas per family, this would mean that the number of EB-5 application spots would expand by 2.7 times. Once this plan is implemented, the backlog issue is expected to be resolved.
It is not difficult to see that investors will have the opportunity to see the backlog alleviated during the waiting process. Once the backlog is resolved, investors' sense of happiness will be greatly enhanced.
Of course, when immigrating to the U.S. through the EB-5 program, choosing a high-quality project is crucial. Under current policy trends, investors will be more inclined to choose projects that have already been approved by the USCIS, have sufficient developer equity, a simple investment structure, and first-priority repayment guarantees for EB-5 funds. At the same time, projects that shorten the waiting period will become very popular in 2018 and will dominate the development of the Chinese EB-5 market. The Manhattan 9 luxury boutique hotel and Dallas 1 projects represented by Worldway are currently among the highest-quality projects on the market, greatly assisting investors in successfully immigrating to the United States. In 2018, a kind of happiness is having your green card approved while waiting in the queue. Investors, please apply and submit as early as possible.
Warm Reminder:
If you choose the "Manhattan 9" project, which is located in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), you will be even happier and have a stronger sense of well-being. This is because once the new EB-5 bill takes effect, it is expected that the provision for reserving visa quotas for "Targeted Employment Areas" and "rural areas" will be retained in the final EB-5 bill. By choosing this project, which has the potential to shorten the waiting period, you will quickly obtain a U.S. green card and enjoy the generous benefits of the United States. "Manhattan 9" purchase hotline: 400-138-2929.
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