EB5 IMMIGRANT INVESTOR PROGRAM

WHEREAS, EB5 is the designation for the fifth employment-based preference immigrant visa category established by Congress in 1990; and

WHEREAS, Congress established the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program in 1992 to create regional centers which aid foreign investors, by directing and professionally managing their investments while concentrating pooled investments in defined distressed economic zones; and

WHEREAS, EB5 allocates 10,000 visas annually to foreign investors and their families who invest at least $1 million (or $500,000 in a target employment area) which must generate at least 10 jobs; and

WHEREAS, EB5 has become a vital source of urban redevelopment funds; and

WHEREAS, since 2005 over $4.7 billion has been invested in qualified American projects; and

WHEREAS, that investment has generated 95,000 jobs; and

WHEREAS, 40 additional regional centers have been approved in Fiscal Year 2013 alone; and

WHEREAS, currently there are over 7,000 pending applications for EB5 related visas, representing $3.5 billion in potential direct investment and 70,000 jobs; and

WHEREAS, last year Congress passed legislation to reauthorize the regional center program, with a unanimous vote in the Senate and a vote of 412-3 in the House; and

WHEREAS, mayors are working with private parties to use EB5 foreign direct investment to finance job creating projects and downtown revitalization projects,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to include a robust EB5 program in the immigration bill including additional visas, permanent authorization of the regional center program and streamlined approvals for all applications.