Congress Reauthorizes EB-5 Investor Visa Program, Opening Door to Wealthy Chinese Immigrants

Delegates take part in the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 10, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Wealthy Chinese nationals looking to obtain a U.S. green card may see their chances improve after President Joe Biden and Congress recently resurrected the EB-5 investor visa program.

The program, which started more than two decades ago but lapsed in June of last year, allows immigrant investors to secure a conditional green card in exchange for investing at least $500,000 in U.S. geographic areas with high unemployment rates, known as targeted employment areas (TEA). The amount was $1 million for non-TEA regions.

Regardless of where the investment goes, the project they invest in must create 10 new U.S. full-time jobs.

For years, China has accounted for the bulk of EB-5 applicants. Chinese nationals received 46 percent (4,327) of total EB-5 visas in the fiscal year 2019, followed by Indian and Vietnamese nationals each at 8 percent, according to data (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

There have been concerns that the visa program could be exploited by the communist Chinese regime, according to a 2020 report (pdf) by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“Concerns have been raised regarding Chinese state-sponsored nationals seeking U.S. residency through this program as a means of extending surveillance and intelligence gathering,” the report said.

“As other avenues of immigration have closed, EB-5 is likely to be exploited more systematically by the Chinese government.”

When Biden signed the omnibus spending bill into law on March 15, included within it was the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, a bill that reauthorized the program. The program will now be in effect until Sept. 30, 2027.

There are a number of changes under the new legislation. For example, the minimum EB-5 investment has been raised to $1.05 million, or $800,000 if in a TEA region.

The legislation also put in place a number of integrity measures to prevent fraud and deter bad actors from exploiting the program. One such measure involves the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, who is required to audit each EB-5 regional center at least once every year. The audit involves looking over the centers’ transactions, books, ledgers, records, and other documentation.

There are more than 600 regional centers approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, offering investment projects that EB-5 applicants can select from to fulfill the investment requirement and other aspects of the visa program.

Chinese EB-5 investment from 2010 to 2019 totaled $10.2 billion, with most of the money going to California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, Georgia, Washington state, Illinois, and Maryland, according to data from Chicago-based think tank MarcoPolo.

Chinese real estate money, including that from the EB-5 program, has transformed the San Francisco Bay Area, with money going to poor neighborhoods from Oakland to Treasure Island, according to a 2017 article by MarcoPolo.

A notable related criminal case in recent years involved Zhao Shilan, the ex-wife of a former Chinese official. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that she pleaded guilty to committing EB-5 fraud by submitting false documents to federal authorities.