A Win for the EB-5 Industry!

US District Court Says, No, Existing Regional Centers Don’t Have to Reauthorize.

In the recent case of Behring v. Mayorkas, the US District Court for the Northern District of California gave a boost to the Regional Center part of the EB-5 industry by granting a preliminary injunction to the Behring Regional Center, LLC, which applies to all 600+ pre-existing Regional Centers. The Court ruled that USCIS was certainly wrong when it interpreted the new Eb-5 Reform and Integrity Act to mean that Regional Centers had to re-qualify in order to process new investments under the new Act.

For the layman, a preliminary injunction while preliminary, is often permanent, because it isn’t granted unless the Court thinks the likelihood of the requester - in this case, Behring - of obtaining a permanent injunction is high. Indeed, Court called USCIS’s interpretation of the new Act “most certainly erroneous.” In such cases, litigants usually give up and accept the injunction.

Business as before, but subject to the new investment limits and visa set-asides.

What this means is that previously authorized Regional Centers are free to collect investments again. USCIS will be permitted to demand new reporting as required by the new Act, but in a less drastic way the comports with the new legislation and won’t categorically and immediately disenfranchise 600+ Regional Centers.