1615-AC11 201710 The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 1615 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS 1600 Department of Homeland Security DHS EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering making regulatory changes to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program. DHS issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to seek comment from all interested stakeholders on several topics, including: (1) The process for initially designating entities as regional centers, (2) a potential requirement for regional centers to utilize an exemplar filing process, (3) continued participation requirements for maintaining regional center designation, and (4) the process for terminating regional center designation. While DHS has gathered some information related to these topics, the ANPRM sought additional information that can help the Department make operational and security updates to the Regional Center Program while minimizing the impact of such changes on regional center operations and EB-5 investors.

]]> Other Significant Previously Published in The Unified Agenda Proposed Rule Stage No No Other 8 CFR 204 8 CFR 216 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5) Pub. L. 102-395, secs. 610 and 601(a) Pub. L. 107-273, sec. 11037 Pub. L. 101-649, sec. 121(a) Pub. L. 105-119, sec. 116 Pub. L. 106-396, sec. 402 Pub. L. 108-156, sec. 4 Pub. L. 112-176, sec. 1 Pub. L. 114-113, sec. 575 Pub. L. 114-53, sec. 131 Pub. L. 107-273 Yes

Based on decades of experience operating the program, DHS has determined that program changes are needed to better reflect business realities for regional centers and EB-5 immigrant investors, to increase predictability and transparency in the adjudication process for stakeholders, to improve operational efficiency for the agency, and to enhance program integrity.

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DHS is still in the process of reviewing potential changes it would propose to the regional center process. DHS may propose to implement an exemplar filing requirement for all designated regional centers that would require regional centers to file exemplar project requests. An exemplar filing requirement could cause some projects to not go forward, but DHS is still in the process of assessing the impacts on the number of projects that may be affected. DHS anticipates that any proposed changes to the regional center program would increase overall program efficiency and predictability for both USCIS and EB-5 stakeholders.

 

]]> ]]> ANPRM 01/11/2017 82 FR 3211 ANPRM Comment Period End 04/11/2017 NPRM 10/00/2018 Yes Businesses None No No www.regulations.gov www.regulations.gov Yes No Lori MacKenzie S. Division Chief, Operations Policy & Stakeholder Communications, Immigrant Investor Program 1615 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS 202 357-9214 lori.s.mackenzie@uscis.dhs.gov 131 M Street NE., Washington DC 20529-2200