"Where Do We Go From Here"

As Congress works to pass renewal legislation to the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program that will expire on December 11, 2015, most observers in the EB-5 space have no idea what will happen. Initially most of us thought that Congress would not have the time to review and vote on several new bills that would overhaul the program. Everyone guessed that Congress would "punt the ball" and pass interim legislation extending the program again until May 2016. Well as of this afternoon, it looks like Congress might actually pass one of the bills. The bill that looks most likely to pass would completely redefine the requirements of an eligible EB-5 regional center based project. The minimum capital threshold requirement would jump from $500,000 to $800,00 for a project in a TEA census tract. A project developed in a non-TEA census tract would stay at $1,000,000.