EB-5 Visa Investment Minimum Lowered!

What is an EB-5 Visa?

EB-5 visas, commonly known as an investor green card, were created to give investors from other countries to become lawful permanent residents and eventually US citizens within the US, if they were to contribute to the economy in high enough of a monetary fashion, and create at least 10 full time jobs. This program was created to be mutually beneficial to foreign national and local economic growth in the United States.

2019 investment minimum increase

In 2019 the US Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS) made major changes to the EB-5 program, most relevant to this news was the increasing of the minimum investment amount. Previous to the 2019 regulations, a foreign investor would have to contribute a minimum amount of $500,000 if investing in a Target Employment Area (TEA) or $1 million if it was a standard investment outside of a TEA. However, following the regulations, even if you invested in a TEA, your minimum investment amount needed to be $900,000, along with other over-restrictive rules, which priced out many foreign investors who were interested in the program.

New ruling

Following the 2019 policy, there was immediate disagreement with a majority of the immigration law community. The Behring Regional Center LLC filed a lawsuit to return the minimum investment to $500,000. In addition, they were suing that former Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, was not fulfilling his duties correctly in his position of power by increasing this minimum. On June 22, 2021, Federal Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley agreed with the plaintiffs and returned the minimum investment to the $500,000.

What does this mean for the future?

With the new ruling, there is a larger market for foreign investors to invest $500,000 in TEAs to bring opportunities to underfunded communities. It is recommended though to move quickly on investments because the Department of Homeland Security is expected to re-enact the previous ruling, and potentially increase it further in backlash.