Wednesday, June 27, 2018
On June 19th, 2018, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held an oversight hearing on the Immigrant Investor EB-5 Program. The well-attended committee hearing focused on reported fraud, abuse, and national security risks related to the program, and also future path for EB-5.
Throughout the hearing, the sole witness was USCIS Director Francis Cissna. Director Cissna summarized the program background; reported USCIS’s recent steps to improve the program administration and integrity; narrated much-needed proposed policy changes to reform the current program. Furthermore, advocated for legislative reform to address needed authorities for USCIS and to make programmatic changes. Director Cissna indicated that the proposed EB-5 Modernization and Regional Center regulations may take beyond the current September program authorization date to accomplish due to there are multiple agency priorities at the current time.
Attending members seemed open to reform legislation and continuation of the program citing the economic success of EB-5 program in their states.
For more information, you can watch YouTube video record on the hearing at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FAYV7HGO3g
Reference:
Cissna, Francis. (2018, Jun. 19). Hearing on “Citizenship for Sale: Oversight of the EB-5 Investor Visa Program” before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on June 19, 2018 by USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna. Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/tools/resources-congress/testimonies-and-speeches/hearing-citizenship-sale-oversight-eb-5-investor-visa-program-senate-committee-judiciary-june-19-2018-uscis-director-l-francis-cissna
Greenberg Traurig, LLP. (2018, Jun. 19). Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Oversight Hearing on EB-5. Retrieved from https://www.natlawreview.com/article/senate-judiciary-committee-holds-oversight-hearing-eb-5