U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administers the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as “EB-5,” created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Under a pilot immigration program first enacted in 1992 and regularly reauthorized since, Congress has allocated 10,000 EB-5 visas for investors designated by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth. Of the 10,000 visas available annually for immigrant investors, 3,000 are reserved for investments in Targeted Employment Areas and another 3,000 are set aside for investment through the Regional Center Program.
Up until very recently, the EB-5 Program has been both controversial and underutilized. However, as a result of some positive developments by the USCIS, the Program has been revised to make EB-5 investments more readily available and easier to obtain. In addition, due to the difficult financing market that developers have faced, the number of petitions has increased from 332 in 2005 to 4,156 in 2012, and the approval rates for the Program have risen from 53 percent to 79 percent.
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