When Does the EB-5 Visa Program End?

By Andrew Bartlett and Steve Parnell
This question is frequently asked by families who consider the EB-5 immigrant visa as their best method of gaining all important green cards.

The EB-5 has been an increasingly popular route to permanent residency in the USA and for many families timing is a key consideration for several reasons:-

* You need to raise $500,000 to invest in one of the US government approved regional centers, which may require the sale of a house or business or cashing in an investment. All these processes may take several months.
* You may need to plan your arrival time in the USA to coincide with the start of the school or college year.
* You may need to have your application approved prior to your children turning 21 so they can be included within a single application.

The actual processing time from when your application goes in to the approval of your visa will depend upon a number of factors such as -

Which regional center you selectWhich program you chose, Which Attorney is preparing your application, The processing times that are in place when you apply, Whether you are applying from the USA or overseas,

Depending on these circumstances processing time is likely to be between six months and a year.

Currently the EB-5 regional center pilot program is due to expire in 2012.

The next question many ask is will the pilot program be extended beyond that date?

The history of the pilot program has seen a series of extensions granted just as the program was about to time out, this has occurred more than once. However, to date, despite a series of plans at the time of writing, the program has not been made permanent.

Some argue that as the EB-5 program is tied to the creation of much-needed American jobs at a difficult time for the nation's economy it would seem only logical that the program is made permanent.

However, no one could ever say that logic should interfere with political reality! There are a number of political issues at work that are not always apparent. Although there is strong support by influential members in Congress to make the pilot program permanent, there are other issues to consider.

To some extent all immigration is caught up in the issue of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) which has been on the agenda for some time. This is not necessarily a popular issue with voters and with elections in 2012 timing for further extensions or making the program permanent may not be good.

Within congress the Hispanic caucus has its own agenda and with their votes important in any moves for an extension they may not be inclined to vote for the extension of any immigration program including the EB-5 pilot program, without obtaining concessions for their own immigration priorities.

When looking at the overall picture there can be no certainty that the program will be made permanent or indeed extended for a further period. Therefore if you are considering the EB-5 immigrant investor visa regional center pilot program your favored choice of entry into the USA it may be prudent to consider starting the process sooner rather than later.