Update for Thursday, March 21: EB-5 Unchanged Through September (But Price Can Double Soon)

HO CHI MINH CITY - Monica and I have been bombarded today with calls, emails, and texts as a result of  Vietnamese media articles which are flat out wrong and a very clear announcement by the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh which has been TOTALLY misconstrued by almost everyone. The Consulate  DID NOT say that they had stopped processing EB-5 visas; they saidthat if the omnibus extension is not signed by this Friday March 23 - which it will almost certainly be - THEN it would stop adjudicating EB-5 visas.  Remember when the Visa Bulletin a few months ago showed EB=5 visas as "unavailable" simply because the program was expiring before the next month?  Same deal, the Consulate was simply stating its plan in the event there is no extension of the budget...which is NOT going to happen.

Yesterday, IIUSA, the EB-5 Regional Center industry group, announced that while the new proposed reform regulation had been scuttled by Big EB-5, an extension of the EB-5 Regional Center in its current form and with it's current investment thresholds shall be included in the budget extension which will be realized in the coming days.  That means that, for now, you can still invest $500,000 in a TEA-approved Regional Center.  (That includes the FAKE TEA New York City projects who killed the reforms, so why not steer clear and instead choose a REAL TEA project for your investment.)

TWO THINGS INVESTORS NEED TO REMEMBER:

1- Don't presume that the $500,000 threshold will be there until September 30th:  regulations pending before the government could be enacted at any time and it is possible that investment figures could be doubled as early as 60 days after March 23rd.  So if you want to invest at the $500,000 threshold, you need to move quickly if you want to be safe.

2- Vietnam Investors: with all the crazy events of the past few days, everyone seems to have forgotten the State Department's prediction that Vietnam will be the second country to hit the annual quota any day.  While we believe that the confusion has slowed the flow of Vietnamese investor filings in the past few months, avoiding the queue is as important as being able to invest at the $500,000 level.

We are bringing you updates via Twitter, this blog, and, shortly, via AVS' YouTube channel.

Jose

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