With many US visa programs being tightened up by the US government and some Senators pushing for immigrant investors US visas to undergo comprehensive reform, individuals of high net worth considering moving to the US are being advised to speed up their US visa applications by immigration lawyers.
In late March, the EB-5 US visa program was extended for a further six months at practically the eleventh hour, with many potential immigrants fearing that it was about to be shut down. But, new and tougher legislation could still be on the cards. This would replace the current immigrant investor US visa program and raise the threshold investment necessary for an investor to get a green card for themselves and their immediate family members quite considerably.
The current threshold for investment in low employment and rural areas is $500,000 but that could be raised to as high as $1.35 million, according to Vivek Tandon, the chief executive officer and founder of EB-5 US visa advisory firm, EB5 BRICS, who has met with several prospective Indian immigrants over the last few weeks.
The US is currently considering several reform proposals for the EB-5 US visa programs and any final law could end up as a mixture of the different proposals. Any applications made before such a change would be able to keep their investment locked in at the current level, leading to experts urging investors to get their applications in now.