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GAO-16-749R 1 (2016-09-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaakfx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: c A U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 September 19, 2016 The Honorable Charles E. Grassley Chairman The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate The Honorable Bob Goodlatte Chairman The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Immigrant Investor Program: Proposed Project Investments in Targeted Employment Areas Congress created the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) immigrant visa category as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 to promote job creation and encourage capital investment in the United States by foreign investors in exchange for lawful permanent residency (green card) and a path to citizenship.1 Upon meeting certain EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (EB-5 Program) requirements-including investing $1 million (or $500,000) in a new commercial enterprise that will result in the creation of at least 10 permanent full-time jobs-immigrant investors and their eligible dependents may receive 2-year conditional green cards to live and work in the United States.2 In order to promote EB-5 investment in geographic areas that struggle to attract development, Congress authorized, and the former U.S. Immigration and 1Pub. L. No. 101-649, tit. I, subtit. B, pt. 2, § 121, 104 Stat. 4978, 4989-94 (classified, as amended, at 8 U.S.C. §§ 1153(b)(5), 1186b). The accompanying report of the Senate Judiciary Committee states that the EB-5 visa category is intended to create new employment for U.S. workers and to infuse new capital into the country. See S. Rep. No. 101-55, at 21 (1989). 2See 8 U.S.C. §§ 11 53(b)(5)(A) (general EB-5 requirements), (C) (amount of capital required), (D) (full-time employment defined), 1186b(a)(1) (alien entrepreneur receives conditional lawful permanent resident status); 8 C.F.R. § 204.6(e) (definitions), (f) (required amounts of capital), (h) (establishment of a new commercial enterprise), (j)(4)(ii) (to show that the new commercial enterprise established through a capital investment in a troubled business meets the statutory employment creation requirement, the petition must be accompanied by evidence that the number of existing employees is being or will be maintained at no less than the preinvestment level for a period of at least 2 years). After initial EB-5 Program requirements are met, immigrant investors and their eligible dependents must be admitted to the United States under EB-5 visas, or if already in the United States, have their statuses adjusted in order to obtain conditional permanent residency. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1153(b)(5), 1201, 1255(a). Eligible dependents (or derivative family members) are the immigrant investor's spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1153(d), (h), 1186b(a), (D. GAO-16-749R Immigrant Investor Program Page 1

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