Yesterday, the leading EB-5 Trade Associations/Coalitions sent a letter to the Senate and House Judiciary Committee Leaders and Members expressing support for extending the EB-5 Regional Center Program and recommending concrete changes.  This is a decisive moment for the EB-5 Industry as the key members of the community are all speaking with one voice This effort is encouraging and will likely add to productive conversations with key offices on the Hill.

The letter highlights support for:

• Integrity measures.  To address fraud, national security, as well as additional measures to protect good faith investors and provide for procedures that would have identified or prevented the EB-5 problems in Vermont.

• TEA Policy Changes and Monetary Differentials.   To make the exception to the rule truly the exception based upon objective criteria.   Implement reasonable differentials between TEA and non-TEA projects.

• Visa Numbers.  Encourage backlog reductions and other solutions to the visa oversubscription.

• Grandfathering/Transition Period.  Individual Investors – No retroactivity or changes to filings for investors who have filed I-526s approvable at the time of filing.  Reasonable implementation of effective dates for Projects

• Extension of the RC program.  A longer term extension of the Regional Center program with the ultimate goal of making it permanent.