Since September 30, 2015 Congress has considered several
immigration bills that would have completely overhauled the EB-5
program. All of us in the space, especially attorneys, had prepared
ourselves for the inevitable change of the current EB-5
regulations. We all knew that the minimum capital threshold
requirement would increase to $800,000. In addition, the targeted
employment area (“TEA”) definition would change,
thereby eliminating important metropolitan areas such as New York
City from consideration. All of this was occurring against the
backdrop of Congress trying to pass the appropriations bill so that
our government would not run out of money.
Congress has been wanting to revamp the EB-5 program for a
significant period of time. All of the recently introduced EB-5
bills contained measures to increase compliance and make the
program safer for foreign investors that were seeking a
“Green Card”. Developers and attorneys lobbied
for reform that would not be
