Has The USCIS Issued Any Statement On The Ban Pertaining To EB-5?

A statement has been issued that EB-5 visa holders are exempted from the travel ban. The State Department issued a cable on the 29^th, which is the date the travel ban went into effect, in which they detailed all of the requirements for US Consuls. This would be something that other government agencies could use, including Immigration. The only change to that which I am aware of is that in the initial one on the 29^th, they listed fiancés as being not a close family member. However, recently there was a change to allow fiancés and grandparents.

This has been the only official pronouncement so far, and the reason it would come from the State Department is because that is the agency that is on the first line of defense. They are the ones who are issuing or denying these visas. Immigration is secondary in this process—they are involved, but I haven’t seen any announcement come out from them.

What Do You Expect For October When The Travel Ban Is Extended Or Removed?

The Supreme Court said they would act on this in fall, so we are thinking roughly in October. I believe that they have 3 votes for sure, but not enough to make this ban permanent. The ban was never intended to be permanent, though it could be extended. It certainly could be extended, and the ban is 4 months for refugees. My guess is that the ban will be upheld just the way it is now. In other words, I think they’ll take a Solomon decision and give each side a win. Again, this is just my guess. If I were to guess whether they were all or nothing, I guess that they would not allow the ban at all. But if they do allow it, it would be in the same situation that we have now meaning, if somebody is just coming for a visit and have no contacts here, then they wouldn’t allow those people in.

Additional Information Regarding The Travel Ban

While this does not relate to the travel ban, it does relate to EB-5 visas. There are EB-5 proposals, by both Immigration and by Congress, Congress proposed to raise the minimum investment amount to $800,000, plus a lot of other restrictive clauses. Immigration wants to raise the minimum investment amount further, to $1,315,000 plus other terms. A few members of Congress sent a letter to Immigration, asking them to not announce any news rules before October 1^st.

We believe that Immigration won’t come out with anything over the summer, but will wait until Congress has had a chance to deal with this at the end of September or beginning of October. If Congress is able to do this, then their new rules will the law. The way we hear it, a compromise is close in both the House and the Senate. We believe that there will be a new bill and a new law as of October 1^st with $800,000 minimum investment amounts.

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