EB-5 Financing

A provision to extend the current EB-5 Program until September 30, 2018 is contained in the proposed Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (“Omnibus”).

Lawmakers are again considering changes to the EB-5 Program. In fact, before the end of this month, we may see provisions from the “Immigrant Investor Visa and Regional Center Program Comprehensive Reform Act” or “EB-5 Reform Act,” which is still circulating in draft form, packaged into an omnibus appropriations bill.

Congress nearly averted a shutdown last week, but just missed the mark when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) temporarily blocked Senate passage of the fifth – and supposedly final --- continuing resolution (CR) of this fiscal year temporarily extending current-level funding for federal activities until March 23.

Three days into the government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) took to the Senate floor Monday afternoon to announce an agreement to end the impasse and reopen the government.

With just hours to spare in order to avoid a government shutdown, the House and Senate approved on December 21 a short-term continuing resolution (CR) funding federal activities through January 19.

With all eyes in Washington focused on tax reform, let’s not forget that there is a hard deadline approaching to address funding of federal activities with the current continuing resolution (CR) set to expire soon.

Like Elsa, the Princess in Disney’s classic Frozen, once again the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has utilized its power to freeze.

The chances of a stand-alone EB-5 bill gaining consensus with lawmakers on Capitol Hill are low. With the GOP failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers may be spending their time readjusting priorities in unexpected ways for the remainder of 2017.

Our colleague Rebecca Zeidel just published a terrific blog posting on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kokesh v. SEC, in which the Court imposed a five-year statute of limitations on agency-sought disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions.

As we head into the summer, there is no certainty that we will see changes to the EB-5 Program. Lawmakers may simply not act, which may result in EB-5 being included in Continuing Resolutions alongside other immigration programs that are temporary, at least in the near future.

Douglas Hauer, Co-Chair of the EB-5 Financing Practice and a Member of the Corporate and Securities and Immigration Practices of Mintz, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., is speaking at the North American Securities Administrators Association’s (NASAA) 2016 Corporation Finance Training.

Our colleagues at ML Strategies have just published a helpful alert about the status of the EB-5 Program, which is awaiting an extension as we gear up for a lame duck session of Congress.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a new proposed rule for entrepreneurs. If the rule becomes law, qualified entrepreneurs would be considered for parole (temporary permission to be in the United States) to jumpstart and build their businesses in the United States.

This afternoon, a draft of the Continuing Resolution (CR) began circulating in Washington, DC. The CR, which Congress will likely pass early next week, will keep the federal government running through the November election.

The extension of the reauthorization for the EB-5 Investor Visa Program may lapse on September 30, 2016. Whether lawmakers will invest time in EB-5 this coming month is an open question, but it is more probable than not that we will see no movement.

Check out what’s new in the EB-5 world, where a team of securities lawyers are at work offering to help lawmakers understand complex legal provisions of proposed EB-5 integrity legislation.

Several securities lawyers from several firms across the United States with a focus on EB-5 have organized a roundtable to discuss securities law issues.

Recently, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), which is the oldest international organization devoted to investor protection, published an investor advisory for potential investors in EB-5 projects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just published three new decisions in connection with administrative proceedings against two well known immigration lawyers, as well as against a third lawyer.