January 2015

With retrogression looming, it is a good time for a quick primer on priority dates and the information contained on an I-526 petition approval. U.S. federal law caps the number of EB-5 visas that are available each fiscal year at 10,000. When an EB-5 investor files an I-526 Petition, the day his or her I-526 petition is received at USCIS is the EB-5 investor’s “priority date.” Retrogression is the term which denotes the time period when the visa cap is reached and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) must establish a cut off-date for visa applicants based on a priority date in the past. An analogy might be to consider the EB-5 visa category as a queue and an EB-5 Investor’s priority date as his or her place in line in the queue.
Continue Reading Retrogression, Priority Dates and I-526 Petition Approval Notices

On Jan. 28, 2015, Congressmen Jared Polis (D-CO) and Mark Amodei (R-NV) introduced the American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act of 2015, which seeks to update and permanently authorize the EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program. The bipartisan measure follows long-standing calls from numerous groups in the commercial, residential, hospitality, retail, and real estate industries to make the EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program, currently due to expire at the end of Fiscal Year 2015 (Sept. 30, 2015), a permanent feature of U.S. immigration law.

The new legislation, among other goals, aims to improve the EB-5 Program by addressing key administrative and substantive concerns with several key proposals, including:
Continue Reading Congressmen Polis (D-CO) and Amodei (R-NV) Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Permanently Authorize the EB-5 Program

Greenberg Traurig EB-5 attorneys, Kate Kalmykov and Laura Reiff, were moderators at the second annual Las Vegas EB-5 Conference, hosted by EB-5 Investors Magazine at the Wynn Encore Resort in Las Vegas, Nev., this past weekend. The event provided valuable information on various EB-5 topics such as regional center issues, using EB-5 for financing or immigration purposes, and current legal trends. The conference featured keynote speaker Congressman Jared Polis, chair of the NewDem Coalition’s Immigration Task Force and sponsor of The American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act which would reform and make permanent the EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program.

EB-5 Raises & SEC Regulations Panel Moderated by Kate Kalmykov
EB-5 Raises & SEC Regulations with panelists Tom Rosenfeld, CanAm Enterprises, LLC, Michael Homeier, Homeier & Law, P.C., and C.J. Arrigo, American Regional Center Group, LLC, and moderator Kate Kalmykov, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Continue Reading Greenberg Traurig EB-5 Group Presents at Second Annual Las Vegas EB-5 Conference

The following is a ranking of the top EB-5 countries ranked according to the number of EB-5 visas issued in the 2014 fiscal year. Inclusion in the list below was determined by countries which had double digits during the 2013 or 2014 fiscal years. For comparison, the number of EB-5 visas issued in the 2013 and 2012 fiscal years has also been included below. The full report can be found here, and the main page for the report is located here.
Continue Reading Ranking the Top EB-5 Countries by US Immigrant Visa Issuance