Backlog of EB-5 Visa applications can be fixed with Reform Bill

Currently the success of the EB-5 Visa program is at risk because of a backlog of EB-5 visa applicants who are still awaiting processing and admittance into the United States. The EB-5 Visa program is one of the United States employment based visa programs that allows foreign investors and their families entry into the United States if they invest over $900,000 dollars into a United States business which will also provide a minimum of 10 jobs for American citizens. The most viable solution for clearing the backlog of applicants is to restore the original intent of the policy which was written to allow 10,000 investor families into the United States every year without including family members in the count of EB-5 visa limits. If this original policy was enacted the backlog of EB-5 visas would be reduced by 67%. As it currently stands only 3,000 investors and their families have been processed instead of the original 10,000 investor families that were originally intended.

The issue seems to lie in the semantics of the bill itself with enough vague language for misinterpretation. There is evidence that there is no clear intention in the bill to include EB-5 family members in the visa count limit.

When Congress amended the INA the language of the bill states that “Not less than 3,000 of the visas made available under this paragraph shall be reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a new commercial enterprise…” The “reserved for qualified immigrants who invest” portion of the language doesn’t decisively state that this includes family members and its misinterpretation is a leading cause in the backlog of EB-5 visas.

Senator Cornyn of Texas has proposed an EB-5 reform bill to achieve the intended number of EB-5 visa approvals which if enacted would ensure that the number of limitations for the EB-5 visa program “shall only apply to principal aliens and not to the spouses or children of such aliens.”

If the misinterpretations of the bill are cleared up the backlog of visa applicants can be reduced and the intent of congress will be reestablished, to allow 10,000 people to make investments in the United States and to provide 100,000 jobs for the American people.