New Proposed EB-5 Regulations Released Today: New Investment Amounts and TEA Changes

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for new EB-5 regulations today. In this 115-page notice, USCIS proposes new rules on:

1. Priority date retention for investor petitions;
2. Increases to investment amounts

a. $1.8 million for high employment areas
b. $1.35 million for targeted employment areas including rural;

3. TEA designation process changes; and
4. Removal of conditions processes to clarify dependent procedures.

The full Notice is available here. There will be a 90 day comment period with a due date of April 11, 2017.

Note, these regulations are separate from the regulations discussed in the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) published yesterday January 11, 2017.  The ANPRM at this point merely solicits feedback on regional center administration issues.  Both ANPRM and the new proposed rules have the same 90 day comment period.