For the past several years the EB-5 Regional Center program has relied on the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) for the methodology required by the Immigration Service to prove the Regional Center will create sufficient indirect jobs. However, in 2013 the BEA announced its intention to change its methodology which caused panic in EB-5 circles. We have recently received information which should help us on this issue.
As background, the EB-5 Regional Centers are entities created as investment vehicles through which foreign investors can obtain permanent residence. Foreign nationals can invest $1million or in some cases $500,000 as long as the Regional Center will directly or indirectly create US jobs. To prove up the indirect job creation, we have relied on the BEA’s RIMS II modeling system. In 2013, the BEA announced plans to eliminate the RIMS II and the Immigration Service refused to state whether it would still allow us to use that system until the BEA puts a new on in place.
On July 3, 2014, the BEA announced that it will release a new system in 2015. Experts, in turn, including former employees of the BEA, have interpreted this to mean the old RIMS II will remain in effect until that time. The Immigration Service will now have to specifically state it will not allow the use of the RIMS II since we have at least unofficial confirmation it is still valid until the new system comes out next year.
If you have a current EB-5 Regional Center in place or are thinking about starting one, this is a positive development for the time being. Should you have any questions, please contact us.