U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently published a final rule that makes a number of significant changes to its EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, marking the first significant revision of the program’s regulations since 1993. The final rule will become effective on Nov. 21, 2019.

Old Rules:

Since 1990, the EB-5 program has traditionally been called the “EB-5 investor green card program”, i.e. 

• With a $500,000 capital contribution to a qualified U.S. job creation project, or  

• $1 million capital contribution to a U.S. job creation business. 

New Rules:

The major points affecting potential new investors under the new final rule are:

1. Increases to the investment amounts, i.e. 

• The old $500,000 investment amount will be increased to $900,000; and 

• The old $1 million investment amount will be increased to $1.8 million. 

2. USCIS will change its regional center designation procedures/standards. This means, for the $500,000 (soon to be $900,000) investment EB-5 green card program, some old job-creation projects will no longer be qualified job creation projects after Nov. 21, 2019. 

Key Points:

• EB-5 petitions submitted before Nov. 21, 2019 will continue to be subject to the old investment amount requirement, i.e. $500,000 or $1 million. 

• Petitions submitted on or after Nov. 21, 2019 will be subject to the new investment requirements, i.e. $900,000 or $1.8 million. 

• Potential new investors shall choose a job-creation project that will be qualified under the new final rule. 

About the Author 

Alicea Castellanos is the CEO and Founder of Global Taxes LLC. Alicea provides personalized U.S. tax advisory and compliance services to high net worth families and their advisors. Alicea has more than 17 years of experience. Prior to forming Global Taxes, Alicea founded and oversaw operations at a boutique tax firm, worked at a prestigious global law firm and CPA firm. Alicea specializes in U.S. tax planning and compliance for non-U.S. families with global wealth and asset protection structures which include non-U.S. trusts, estates and foundations that have a U.S. connection.

Alicea also specializes in foreign investment in U.S. real estate property, and other U.S. assets, pre-immigration tax planning, U.S. expatriation matters, U.S. persons in receipt of foreign gifts and inheritances, foreign accounts and assets compliance, offshore voluntary disclosures/tax amnesties, FATCA registration, and foreign companies wanting to do business in the U.S. Alicea is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of Portuguese.

Alicea is an active member of the Society of Trusts & Estates Practitioners (STEP), the New York City Bar, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPAs), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the International Fiscal Association (IFA).  She is the New York/Northeast Regional Representative of the Women of IFA Network (WIN). Distinctly, in 2020, Alicea was awarded with a prestigious NYSSCPA Forty Under 40 Award. She was selected as someone that has notable skills and is visibly making a difference in the accounting profession.

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