Indians jittery over EB5 program as extension hangs on US government move
3 min read
A new issue is staring at investors in the EB5 Immigrant Investor program.
The EB5 program, which gives a direct path to US citizenship for investors, lapses on 30th June, and investments made by a few thousand Indians under it could be in jeopardy if the US government doesn’t expand it.
The EB 5 has in recent years gained in prevalence among Indians who need to get a US green card or permanent residence permit.
The interest for EB-5 investor visas has risen 400% from 2016-2019 among Indians. As indicated by Invest in the USA (IIUSA), a not-for-profit trade association.
About 33% of these have been filed by Indians living in the United States to secure their future in the country. In part to bypass the excessively long green card processing times for Indian nationals, EB5 lawyers said.
The EB 5 used to link to a government spending bill and would get automatically expanded each time these bills were passed.
However, previous US President Donald Trump decoupled this last year. As a result, specific legislation will have to be passed to expand it.
“The decoupling was a significant event – it had been attached to three different programs for about 10 years. And that allowed for great support for the whole package,”. Said Suresh Rajan, founder, LCR Capital Partners, a private investment and advisory services firm.
As per information from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, there are more than 15,000 applications still pending with the agency. While a few thousand more have been approved but the visas have yet to be given.
EB5 Immigrant Investor program
Arguably, a failure to restore the program might potentially affect everyone that has not gotten a conditional green card. Given that Indians filed more than 2,000 applications in the last two-three years. All of them could get affected,” said Vivek Tandon, CEO, EB5 BRICS.
Investors who have already put in their money are understandably concerned.
“I filed my I-526 petition back in May 2019 and still haven’t heard back from USCIS. If the program lapses, I will be affected,” Rajvir Batra, an undergraduate student at Harvard University told ET.
Another Indian investor in Hong Kong whose application has been approved and is waiting for his visa interview echoed similar concerns.
The Bill would reauthorize the EB5 program for a period of five years. While adding provisions to prevent any possible misuse and fraud. Because of the volume of investments that have already been tied to this program. Attorneys and immigration advocates expect this to come up for approval before it lapses in June.
[Extends Expiring Immigration Programs, Broadens Recovery Rebate Eligibility for Nonimmigrants]
In November 2019, the investment requirements under the program were almost multiplied. Expecting candidates to invest $900,000 or $1.8 million into a local business or project and create at least 10 jobs for American workers.
The uncertain economic environment has additionally resulted in a sharp drop in the number of EB5 petitions in the fiscal year 2020.
While the USCIS received more than 4,000 applications in the first quarter of the fiscal year (October 2019-September 2020). This dropped to a sum of 114 over the next three quarters.
“2019 was a solid year as investment limits planned to go up. Yet application numbers saw a sensational decrease in 2020. While numbers are picking up, it is unlikely to rebound to 2019 levels,” said Rajan of LCR Capital Partners.
