On September 26, 2002, the House of Representatives passed the Department of Justice Authorization Bill.  The House Bill proposes to make a number of changes for certain EB-5 immigrant investors.  Some of the more significant changes include:

-New procedures for immigrant investors attempting to have the condition on their permanent residency removed.  The proposed procedures would apply to immigrant investors who filed an EB-5 petition and had it approved between January 1, 1995, and August 31, 1998, and timely filed a petition to remove the condition from their permanent status.  Further, immigrant investors will have the opportunity to request that an immigration judge review the Service’s decision to terminate their permanent resident status.

-New procedures for immigrant investors who have been denied conditional permanent residence based on a determination that they did not satisfy the capital investment requirement.  Immigrant investors meeting the guidelines will have their petitions reopened.  These provisions will only apply to immigrant investors who filed an EB-5 petition and had it approved between January 1, 1995, and August 31, 1998.

-A definition of full-time employment for immigrant investors is added to section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act as being at least 35 hours of service per week.

-The “establishment” requirement for immigrant investors would be eliminated and replaced with the requirement that the immigrant investor must illustrate that s/he has an investment in a commercial enterprise.  Additionally, what constitutes a commercial enterprise will be clearly defined to also include a limited partnership.

-The description and purpose (goals, production) of an EB-5 regional center are more clearly described within section 610(a) of the Department of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and the Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993.