EB-5 Alternative has been delayed

The department of Homeland Security has decided to delay the date for the International Entrepreneur Rule which was scheduled to begin July 17^th, 2017. March 14, 2018 is the new date for the final International Entrepreneur Rule to take effect.  The International Entrepreneur Rule is a proposed regulation from the United States Citizenship and Immigrations Services department which is meant to build the presence of foreign entrepreneurship in the United States. Essentially, qualifying foreign entrepreneurs would be granted temporary access to the U.S. in order to build up their businesses. This is a new opportunity in comparison to the EB-5 Visa program where a qualifying candidate has to have over $900,000 of income to invest into the US Economy.

International Entrepreneur Rule delayed for public commentary

The Foreign Register notice which was published on July 11^th, 2017 states that this delay “will provide DHS with an opportunity to obtain comments from the public regarding a proposal to rescind the rule pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13767, ‘Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements.’ ” The opportunity for public commentary on the International Entrepreneur Rule will be given with a Notice of Purposed Rulemaking.

The newest version of the rule has added Form FS-240 also known as the Department of State Consular Report of Birth Abroad into the regulatory text and to the listing of documents under “List C” for acceptable verification for I-9 forms. The FS-240 provision will have an effective start date of July 17^th, 2017 because it is unrelated to the entrepreneur regulations of the final rule.

Criteria for the approval of foreign entrepreneurs under International Entrepreneur Rule have been amended.

The final rule was changed to amend the Department of Homeland Security’s criteria for the case by case approval of foreign entrepreneurs attempting to qualify for the new opportunity. Specifically the update to the notice stated that,

“it applied to international entrepreneurs who can demonstrate that their parole into the United States under § 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) would provide a significant public benefit to the United States. In accordance with the final rule’s criteria, such potential would be indicated by, among other things, the receipt of significant capital investment from U.S. investors with established records of successful investments, or obtaining significant awards or grants from certain federal, state, or local government entities.”

The final rule has also established an initial parole period of up to two and a half years, or 30 months, with the opportunity for extension for two and a half more years so the applicant can build up their start up company.