In 2009, Congress extended four immigration programs, EB-5 among them, as part of the Department of Homeland Security spending bill. At that time, the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program was extended until September 30, 2012. In the Fall of 2011 as part of a series of hearings on the hill it appeared that both Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives were in favor of a permanent reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program. At the time, however it appeared that some members of Congress wanted as part of the Regional Center reauthorization to include a new employment based category to be known as the EB-6 which would provide immigrant visas for for venture capital or startup ventures in the U.S. In recent weeks, focus has shifted back to the EB-5 and Congress is looking at a permanent reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program. Two interesting developments have happened recently. The first is that there is a possibility that the permanent extension could come sooner as part of another larger package. Second it appears that there is some room for EB-5 stakeholders to weigh in and add additional provisions beyond a mere permanent extension of the Regional Center Pilot Program such as mandating the introduction of Premium Processing, increase visa numbers in the EB-5 category, etc. If you are involved with or are a Regional Center and would like to speak with GT’s legislative team working on this earlier fix, please contact Kate Kalmykov or Laura Reiff.