The EB-5 community received welcome news from Capitol Hill Today.  Through a unanimous vote the Senate passed S. 3245 which provides for a three year extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program.  The measure now moves to the House.  Although, the House is currently on recess and will only reconvene in September, indications from sources on Capitol Hill are that the measure will be supported in the House by members from both sides of the aisle.

GT Attorneys Genna Garver and Kate Kalmykov along with Brian Su of Artisan Business Group Discuss Marketing of EB -5 Projects in the U.S. and Abroad

Last week, GT Attorneys attended and participated in the First Annual Southern California EB-5 Conference hosted by eb5investors.com.  Participating in the conference were:

  • Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) who chairs the House Judiciary Committee
  • Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA) who is a member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, as well as the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit; and
  • Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) who chairs the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Kate Kalmykov of GT with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Kamyar Amiri-Davani of eb5investors.com

All three members of Congress expressed their support for the reauthorization of the EB-5 program.  Chairman Smith specifically recognized the positive impact the EB-5 program has had on the United States during difficult economic times, both in its ability to create jobs for U.S. workers as well as to encourage substantial foreign direct investment into the United States.  Likewise, Congressmen Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher both noted that attracting highly-skilled business people, entrepreneurs, and other professionals through the EB-5 program was beneficial to the country as a whole.  The conference afforded attendees the unprecedented ability to voice concerns about the program directly to Chairman Smith.

Participants discussed many issues facing them in the EB-5 program including uncertainty about the status of the Regional Center Pilot Program which is set to sunset on September 30, administrative delays in processing of applications by USCIS as well as the implementation of new evidentiary standards by USCIS in the adjudication of EB-5 related applications (I-924, I-526 and I-829) that appear to be unauthorized or at a minimum not addressed by Congress.  Chairman Smith not only stated that he would accept a list of issues from stakeholders at the meeting to bring to the attention of USCIS but he would also be open to accepting recommendations on improvements to the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program to incorporate into proposed legislative measures

Indications from government officials are that a record high of 6,500 EB-5 visas will be issued during the 2012 fiscal year.  To date, USCIS statistics indicate that the EB-5 Program has been responsible for creating at least 46,810 jobs for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents and attracting more than $2.3 billion in foreign direct investment to the U.S. since its inception. Analysts project that the Program could contribute over $4.4 billion to U.S. GDP as well as create or preserve almost 75,000 jobs each year if the annual quota of 10,000 EB-5 visas were met.  California’s Regional Centers account for over 25% of all Regional Centers in the U.S.

GT applauds these prominent members of the House for their support of the EB-5 program.

Congressman Ed Royce, Henry Liebman of American Life, Ali Jahangiri and Kamyar Amiri-Davani of eb5investors.com with Kate Kalmykov of GT
Tags: Congress, EB -5 Pilot Program Reauthorization, EB-5 Conferece, EB-5 Reauthorization, Lamar Smith, Legislative Action
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Photo of Kate Kalmykov Kate Kalmykov

Kate Kalmykov is based in our New York and New Jersey offices and has over two decades of experience in business immigration matters. Kate currently Co-Chairs the Global Immigration & Compliance Practice at Greenberg Traurig. In this role, she works with employers of

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Kate Kalmykov is based in our New York and New Jersey offices and has over two decades of experience in business immigration matters. Kate currently Co-Chairs the Global Immigration & Compliance Practice at Greenberg Traurig. In this role, she works with employers of all sizes across a variety of industries in understanding and complying with the immigration laws relating to the hiring and retention of foreign talent. Specifically, her practice focuses on supporting clients and advising them on temporary and permanent residency immigration options for multi-national executive, business, scientific, and information technology personnel. In addition, her practice provides support to companies in the global transfer of personnel. Known by her clients for her out-of-the-box thinking, responsiveness and hands-on approach, Kate is often called upon to assist in developing immigration options and strategies in the most unique circumstances and to respond to complex Requests for Evidence (RFEs), Notices of Intent to Deny (NOIDs) or to appeal denied cases. Likewise, she has also been instrumental in developing employer compliance programs for DOL related filings including H-1Bs and PERMs, as well as for I-9 employment eligibility verification. To this end, she develops and conducts nationwide I-9 compliance trainings and policy manuals for human resources personnel, advises on best practices for E-Verify employers, provides guidance on avoiding immigration-related unfair employment practices claims and has defended and minimized penalties in immigration-related government audits. Kate regularly works with professionals from the firm’s labor, employment, tax and benefits groups, to provide strategic planning on immigration issues within a cross-border framework.

Kate also has deep experience working on all aspects of the EB-5 immigrant investor program. Kate has worked with real estate developers, private equity funds, and other organizations on applications to designate new EB-5 Regional Centers, applications for pre-approval of EB-5 projects; having projects adopted by existing EB-5 Regional Centers; structuring projects to be EB-5 compliant, the sale of existing EB-5 Regional Centers, preparing template I-526 petitions and advice on structuring direct EB-5 projects. Pursuant to the requirements introduced under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act, Kate works with EB-5 Regional Centers, EB-5 Projects, Overseas Migration Agents and Broker/ Dealers to develop internal programs for ongoing compliance and to prepare USCIS I-956, I-956F, I-956,G, I-956H, I-956K submissions. Kate has represented thousands of investors in obtaining their green cards through EB-5 regional center projects, as well as direct EB-5 investment opportunities. She also represented and structured the largest EB-5 offering in the Program’s history and has over the course of her career structured over $12 billion in EB-5 deals.

Within the field of immigration law, Kate is a well-known speaker and author. She is often called upon by various media outlets to comment on topics of business immigration law including the Real Deal, the Wall Street Journal, and Law360. Kate has appeared on numerous TV programs related to immigration law including CNN, the Stoler Report, Vietface TV, and China Business Network. Kate is also a prolific writer on the topic of immigration and has been published in immigration practice handbooks for the American Bar Association, American Immigration Lawyers Association, ILW, and in news periodicals that include the New Jersey Lawyer, the New York Law Journal, the New Jersey Law Journal, USA Today, GlobeSt.com, and the Commercial Observer. At the request of the American Bar Association, Kate co-authored the book “What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Immigration Law,” a guide for non-lawyers on immigration law practice. She has sat on numerous bar association related committees including the American Immigration Lawyers Association EB-5 Practice Committee, the New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition and has chaired the American Bar Association’s, Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Section of Administrative Law since 2011. Kate has been recognized in various legal surveys including Chambers Global, New York Super Lawyers, the New Jersey Law Journal who ranked as her as a “New Leader of the Bar,” (formerly 40 under 40) in 2012, NJBIZ “Best 50 Women in Business,” 2019, National Law Review, “Go-To Thought Leader: Immigration Law,” 2022, and Lawdragon 500, Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers, 2020-2022.

Kate is devoted to pro bono matters and has spent extensive time helping clients fleeing conflict and persecution with asylum applications, applying for and obtaining Temporary Protected Status and Humanitarian Parole.

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