Backing EB-5 power players is always bi-partisan, isn't it? In Graham Backs a Bill Friendly to Real-Estate Industry, the Wall Street Journal's Konrad Putzier reported 1/14/20 that not only is Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) a co-sponsor of a new bill, but so too are Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
The pending bill would essentially restore primacy for immigrant investor projects in major cities like New York. As I reported 10/31/19, new program rules raised the minimum investment from $500,000 to $900,000 (but not $1.35 million, as originally proposed), as long as the project is in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), which is a rural area or an area of high unemployment.
Gary Friedland, a scholar-in-residence at New York University Stern School of Business, told the Wall Street Journal the obvious: the bill would "effectively nullify" the new EB-5 regulations.
But Nicholas Mastroianni II, founder of the U.S. Immigration Fund, the leading regional center (and which raised two rounds of money for Atlantic Yards), said he was optimistic about changes. Perhaps not coincidentally, he gave Graham's campaign $5,000 in September, the Journal reported.
More on the bill
Here's the bill, the “Immigrant Investor Program Reform Act," which hasn't yet moved forward. It notes that, while 30% of visas should be reserved for TEA projects, half of them in rural areas (a key issue for senators like Iowa's Charles Grassley), if visas are unused, they can be made available in the next fiscal year to any EB-5 investor.
The bill also would establish an EB–5 Integrity Fund, collecting $20,000 and $10,000 a year from regional centers, depending on size, and $1,000 from each investor, to conduct audits and site visits, and investigations based outside of the United States, looking into compliance with immigration laws as well as fraud or other crimes.
The TEA has been redefined to include "a qualified opportunity zone," a rural area, or an area within the geographic boundaries of any closed military installation.
The pending bill would essentially restore primacy for immigrant investor projects in major cities like New York. As I reported 10/31/19, new program rules raised the minimum investment from $500,000 to $900,000 (but not $1.35 million, as originally proposed), as long as the project is in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), which is a rural area or an area of high unemployment.
The non-TEA investment, generally ignored in recent years, increased from $1 million to $1.8 million, and it also made it much harder to define such a TEA, long gerrymandered by developers, the middlemen known as regional centers, and local governments eager to attract low-cost capital.
New program would "nullify" the changes
The new bill would not only extend the program until 2025, it would raise the TEA investment to $1 million and lower the non-TEA investment to $1.1 million, nearly parity. That would not only advantage major real estate projects but, with the higher minimum than previous, make it easier to raise larger sums.
Gary Friedland, a scholar-in-residence at New York University Stern School of Business, told the Wall Street Journal the obvious: the bill would "effectively nullify" the new EB-5 regulations.
But Nicholas Mastroianni II, founder of the U.S. Immigration Fund, the leading regional center (and which raised two rounds of money for Atlantic Yards), said he was optimistic about changes. Perhaps not coincidentally, he gave Graham's campaign $5,000 in September, the Journal reported.
More on the bill
Here's the bill, the “Immigrant Investor Program Reform Act," which hasn't yet moved forward. It notes that, while 30% of visas should be reserved for TEA projects, half of them in rural areas (a key issue for senators like Iowa's Charles Grassley), if visas are unused, they can be made available in the next fiscal year to any EB-5 investor.
The bill also would establish an EB–5 Integrity Fund, collecting $20,000 and $10,000 a year from regional centers, depending on size, and $1,000 from each investor, to conduct audits and site visits, and investigations based outside of the United States, looking into compliance with immigration laws as well as fraud or other crimes.
The TEA has been redefined to include "a qualified opportunity zone," a rural area, or an area within the geographic boundaries of any closed military installation.
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