Today the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published an early notice of possible regulatory changes to the EB-5 regional center program, seeking public comment on proposed updates to regional center monitoring, reporting, and termination. The rule is entitled, “Improvement of the Employment Creation Immigrant Regulations.”
The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking lays out several possible changes to the regional center program including:
- The process for designating entities as regional centers;
- Establishing requirements for regional centers to utilize exemplar filings;
- The process to maintain regional center designation including a “continued participation requirement”;
- The process to terminate regional center designation; and
- Measures for ensuring safeguards for monitoring and oversight
USCIS is also seeking public comment on a several general inquiries relating to the regional program including how the agency can improve the initial designation process and what documentation the agency should require as part of exemplar application filings.
Comments to the notice are due on April 11, 2017 (90 days from the January 11, 2017, date of publication).