Congress will reconvene soon to consider a number of Biden administration’s legislative priorities and AIIA wants to ensure that investors’ concerns are not glazed over in the process. Presently, the #1 investor concern is grandfathering of existing investors in case of any future EB-5 Regional Center program lapse. We think this is something that is long overdue: expiration of the EB-5 Regional Center program should not have any retroactive effect on investors already committed to the process. This is also a confidence building measure for future investors, who are more likely to use the EB-5 route if they are assured that political wrangling in Congress will not affect their immigration outcomes. 

 

Over the past week, AIIA has worked with Robert C. Divine, Chairman of the immigration division at Baker Donelson and former Chief Counsel and Acting Director of USCIS, to draft legislative language that will do just that. The Foreign Investor Fairness Protection Act (FIFPA) will ensure that any investor who has filed an I-526 petition with USCIS at a time when the Regional Center program was authorized will be able to complete their immigration process. Multiple experienced immigration attorneys have vetted the draft and we are pleased to announce that AIIA’s language has received endorsements from both IIUSA and EB5IC. In addition to these industry connections, we will use our independent connections with key Congressional offices to advocate for including FIFPA in any reauthorization of the Regional Center program. We would like to thank IIUSA and EB5IC for their commitment to investor interests and look forward to working with them to push for the enactment of FIFPA.

 

You can view and download the language of FIFPA here.