Sunday, November 6, 2011

What the EB-5 Program hasn't got

I'm going to write about something that the EB-5 Program hasn't got:  Certainty or continuity.
Very important words, these.  The employees responsible for the EB-5 Program at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services HQ and the California Service Center may, in fact, be smart people who understand the EB-5 Program. I don't believe that, but let's say, for the purposes of this blog, that they are and do.
What they don't have is the ability or the motivation to give the EB-5 Program certainty and continuity so that the stakeholders -- regional centers, investment project developers, EB-5 lawyers, EB-5 investors -- can count on anything -- anything at all.
New memos coming out of USCIS show time and again that these employees are intent on making things worse for the EB-5 Program, not better, more complicated, not easier for anyone to navigate.  In fact, they often change the rules in the middle of the game.
Because this federal agency makes it possible for an investor to plunk down $500,000 or $ 1 million and apply for a green card, it had  better be able to provide some certainty and continuity.
That is not happening today, and it won't until or if the stakeholders turn up the political heat.