USCIS Confirms Indirect Job Creation Can Occur Outside Regional Center Boundaries

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently agreed to count jobs indirectly created outside the geographical boundaries of an EB-5 Regional Center (RC) in determining whether the RC’s business plan complies with EB-5 regulations. The policy change was expressed in a December 3, 2010, letter (PDF) from USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas in response to a letter from Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Mayorkas wrote: “USCIS interprets the law to require that a regional center focus its EB-5 capital investment activities on a single, contiguous area within the defined geographic jurisdiction requested by the regional center. Nevertheless, we agree that the law does not further mandate that all indirect job creation attributable to a regional center take place within that jurisdiction. I will, therefore, ensure that USCIS policy reflects this understanding of the law.”