Washington, D.C., April 11, 2022: Today, USCIS announced on its website that all regional centers certified prior to March 15, 2022, are de-certified as of the passage of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (“Act”) and now have to seek re-certification to re-start their operations.

The USCIS interpretation of the Act was published as a statement on the USCIS website. No analysis of the reasons for this interpretation were given other than the fact that the Act repealed the original statute from 1992 that created the EB-5 Regional Center Program almost 30 years ago:

“Congress repealed Section 610 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993, in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, Div. BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. No. 117-103) (Sec. 101 and 102). Therefore, regional centers previously designated under section 610 are no longer authorized. The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 requires all entities seeking regional center designation to provide a proposal in compliance with the new program requirements, which will be effective on May 14, 2022. We will provide further guidance to entities desiring to be designated as regional centers under the new program. We are not accepting Form I-924, Application For Regional Center Designation Under the Immigrant Investor Program, for this purpose.”

The USCIS statement mirrors the statements of Senator Charles Grassley on the Senate floor on March 16, 2022, in which the Senator expressly stated that all previously certified regional centers would now have to seek re-certification under the new Act.

Donoso & Partners, a leading immigration law firm based in Washington, D.C., will continue to report on developments regarding the immigration law and policy through our news section of donosolaw.com.