Grassley, Goodlatte lead bipartisan effort to reform investor visa program

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and U.S. Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) recently renewed their commitment to reform the EB-5 investor visa program ahead of its scheduled expiration on April 28 — or to allow the program to lapse.

Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Goodlatte, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, led a bipartisan group of leaders from both committees who committed to address fraud, abuse and national security concerns stemming from the program.

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program permits foreign entrepreneurs to apply for permanent residency if they agree to make “a necessary investment” in a U.S. commercial enterprise and plan to create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs.

“Despite the well-documented and rampant abuse of the EB-5 Regional Center Program that we have exposed in recent years, we remain committed to working in good faith with our colleagues and industry stakeholders to bring about much needed reforms to this troubled program,” the committee leaders said in a joint statement.

“However, as we have made clear time and time again, any reforms must contain genuine and sincere changes to allow rural and distressed urban areas, the very communities this program is supposed to benefit, to compete for investment dollars. In addition, any reforms must address the many national security and fraud concerns by containing — without loopholes — compliance measures, background checks and transparency provisions,” they said.

A proposal recently offered by Invest in the USA, the nation’s largest EB-5 industry trade association, offered what committee leaders described as a reasonable proposal that could serve as a basis for program reform negotiations.

“As we have in the past, we remain willing to work with our colleagues and industry groups to produce meaningful reform,” the lawmakers wrote. “This must include strong transparency and anti-fraud measures, meaningful investment differentials, adjustments of the investment amounts to appropriately account for inflation, adequate set asides for both rural and urban distressed areas, and an end to the program’s abusive gerrymandering practices.”

The committee leaders also recently wrote in a letter to congressional leaders that the program should be allowed to expire if reforms cannot be made.