News 09 Apr. 2024
Curtis Announces New Partners and Counsels Across Offices in Spring 2024
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News 25 Jan. 2024
Counsel Mohannad A. El Murtadi Suleiman Addresses “Africanization” of International Investment Law
Event 18 Aug. 2023
Partner Borzu Sabahi Speaks at FDI Moot Shenzhen
News 25 Jul. 2023
Partner Eric Gilioli Ranked in Top 10 Influential Energy & Natural Resources Lawyers in Kazakhstan in Business Today
Client Alert 28 Dec. 2023
U.S. to Impose Secondary Sanctions on Non-U.S. Banks For Financing Russia’s Defense Industry
News 28 Aug. 2024
Curtis Recognized for Excellence in Arbitration in Chambers Latin America Guide 2025
Event 22 Aug. 2023
Partner Dr. Claudia Frutos-Peterson to Speak at Arbitration and ADR Commission of the ICC Mexico
News 15 Aug. 2023
Legal Reader Publishes Article on Dr. Majed Alotaibi’s Arrival as Senior Counsel in Curtis’ Riyadh Office
News 31 Jul. 2023
Curtis Welcomes Senior Saudi Advisor, Dr. Majed Alotaibi, to its Riyadh Office
News 24 Aug. 2023
Curtis Attorneys Quoted in CoinDesk on FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s Strategy Ahead of His Criminal Trial
Client Alert 10 Jul. 2024
EU Adopts New Restrictive Measures Against Belarus
Client Alert 26 Jun. 2024
The EU Adopts its 14th Sanctions Package Against Russia
news
Legal 500 UK Recognizes Curtis Practices and Attorneys in 2025 Edition
Curtis Attorneys Featured in IBA Insolvency and Arbitration Working Group’s New Reports
Client Alert 11 Mar. 2022
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Late Thursday, the Senate passed a $1.50 trillion spending bill that will fund the federal government through September 30, 2022. Included in the bill is the “EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022”, which renews a 1990 program that incentivizes foreign investment in the U.S. with the promise of providing green cards for immigrant investors.
The program will be renewed after much uncertainty due to recent criticism over its perceived ineffectiveness and claims of fraud. The bill addresses some of these underlying issues as well as issues applicants are facing stemming from the uncertain future of the program.
Among other things, the reauthorization includes new measures intended to prevent fraud. For example, projects receiving funding from EB-5 investors will need to comply with additional reporting requirements, and the Department of Homeland Security’s oversight role has been bolstered to help ensure that incoming investments are ethically sourced.
Regional centers, which are intended to promote growth in economically challenged and rural areas by pooling investors for EB-5 projects, have long been criticized for allowing commercial real estate developers to direct funds towards affluent areas through gerrymandering. The bill includes a number of reforms that are targeted at such regional centers, including a requirement for an audit by USCIS at least once every five (5) years and a prohibition on involvement by certain criminals and persons who have been sanctioned by the government.
Further, the bill earmarks available EB-5 visas for specific categories of investments: 20% are reserved for investments in rural areas; 10% are reserved for investments in high-unemployment areas; and 2% are reserved for investments in infrastructure projects.
Immigrant investors can expect higher investment minimums as a result of the renewal, including a new minimum investment of $800,000 for areas of high unemployment and rural areas (up from the current minimum of $500,000), and a minimum investment of $1,050,000 for non-targeted areas.
Regional center applicants can also expect some welcome changes. The renewal extends the EB-5 program to September 30, 2027. Additionally, if the program ever expires, as it did on June 30, 2021, new grandfathering laws will ensure that EB-5 petitions will continue to be processed by USCIS if they are filed on or before September 30, 2026. These changes address major concerns voiced by immigrant investors whose futures in the U.S. were thrown into question when the program faced yearly renewal, which has recently triggered multiple lawsuits.
About Curtis
Curtis offers comprehensive EB-5 Program legal services to investors, job-creating entities, new commercial enterprises, and regional centers under the EB-5 Program. These services vary from advising investors, filing petitions, providing compliance advice, challenging USCIS Form I-526 and Form I-829 denials in federal court, and handling EB-5 commercial disputes, to advising on the structuring, formation, and administration of pooled investment vehicles for EB-5 investors consistent with U.S. securities laws.
Curtis attorneys have also been recognized for their EB-5 Program expertise. In September 2021, Curtis litigation partner Jason Wright was featured in The Investment Migration Report’s 10th Episode, “A Conversation with an EB-5 Government Litigator”. In March 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware also qualified Jason as an expert witness in the EB-5 Program pursuant to a complex EB-5 related restructuring in a bankruptcy proceeding involving 150 EB-5 investors. The Court commended Curtis’ advice and contributions.
Immigration
Jason D. Wright
Partner
Randy J. DeSmyter
New York
+1 212 696 6000
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Fernando Tupa to Speak on Indirect Expropriation at Investment Arbitration Seminar organized by the Instituto Peruano de Arbitraje
Senior Associate Pablo Calderón to Speak at Greater Houston Partnership Decarbonization Event with Japanese Delegation
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