D&S Legislative Update: Omnibus Spending Bill Passed by the House, Up for Vote in the Senate

In the late hours of Tuesday evening, December 15, 2015, after days of intense negotiations, Congressional leadership announced that it has reached a sweeping year-end deal on the omnibus federal spending bill needed to continue to fund the Federal government. This announcement follows the five-day continuing resolution passed by Congress on December 10, 2015, to allow for additional time for the omnibus federal spending bill to be finalized and avoid a government shutdown.

On Thursday, December 17, 2015, the House passed the spending bill by a vote of 318 to 109.  The Senate is expected to vote on and pass the bill on Friday, December 18, 2015.  The omnibus appropriations bill contains a recommendation to extend the EB-5 program in its current form through September 30, 2016, without the widely discussed changes to the minimum investment amounts or the definition of Targeted Employment Area (TEA).  In addition to extending the EB-5 program, the bill will also extend other expiring immigration programs, including the E-verify program, Conrad 30 waivers for J-1 medical workers, and R-1 visas for religious workers. Finally, the bill contains reforms to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), including the requirement that program users have electronic passports with biometric and biographic information and restricting use of the program for certain individuals who have traveled to Iraq, Sudan, Iran and Syria.

UPDATE: On Friday, December 18, 2015, the U.S. Senate approved the spending bill by a vote of 65 to 33. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law no later than December 18th.

Senate Approves Five-Day Funding Measure to Prevent Government Shutdown at Midnight

On December 10, 2015, the Senate unanimously approved a five-day funding measure to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight.  This extension is in addition to the Temporary Spending Measures passed by Congress on September 30, 2015 to prevent a government shutdown starting October 1, 2015.  If passed, the extension would give Congress until December 16, 2015 to pass a comprehensive $1.1 trillion spending package.

According to numerous reports, today the House is expected to vote on and pass the measure and President Obama is expected to sign the short-term continuing resolution into law, thus avoiding the shutdown at midnight. Once passed, the short-term continuing resolution will also extend EB-5, Conrad 30, Special Religious Workers, and E-Verify for five additional days. Several experts have indicated that Congress is close to passing the omnibus federal spending bill.

D&S will continue to monitor this developing situation and provide timely updates.

EB-5 Alert: USCIS Message Warns that Certain Regional Center Naming Conventions May Violate Federal Law

This week, the Public Engagement Division of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued an alert to Stakeholders reminding them that EB-5 regional centers and any related commercial enterprises affiliated with the regional center should not contain the words "United States," "U.S.," "US," and "Federal" in their names.  USCIS explained that such words may falsely imply a relationship between the entity and the U.S. government and, thus, using these names on website and promotional materials could be considered a deceptive act or practice or constitute false advertising in violation of federal unfair trade and false advertising laws.

USCIS also warned that any business operating in the financial services sector should not have advertisements containing the words "Federal" or United States," as such language could constitute false advertising or misuse of names to indicate a federal agency,  both of which are violations of federal law.

In cases where the Immigrant Investor Program Office (IPO) - the office that adjudicates EB-5 petitions nationwide - determines a regional center or related commercial enterprise has a questionable name or has employed questionable language in advertisements, it may refer the case to the Federal Trade Commission or Department of Justice, as appropriate, for further action.

EB-5 investors and practitioners should continue to review all regional center materials and advertisements closely and carefully to ensure that no questionable naming conventions or advertising language is used that could subject the regional center to federal investigation.