December 18, 2015

The EB-5 investor immigration visa program has been subject to an overabundance of criticism disproportionate to the beneficial effect that the program has for investors, American jobs, and the U.S. economy.

Even advocates of EB-5 complain that the process moves too slowly. The typical response to that complaint acknowledges the sluggish nature of the process, but often lays the blame on applications with incomplete information.

Thanks to “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” investigating issues with an entirely different class of visa, we have now learned the following:

• FBI Director, James Comey said, “The process requires an interview.”
• USCIS Director, Leon Rodriguez, said, “We only interview… in cases where there is some issue that needs to be explored.”
• Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, said, “Part of the problem with the (entire) visa system to begin with is that… they are overwhelmed. This is not a rigorous process (as it is meant to be).”

The generic problem with the USCIS visa program seems to be that, for whatever reason, individuals within the bureaucracy appear to have broad discretionary power over what is processed and what is not, or which cases have priority over others. This certainly explains how Senator Harry Reid was able to use his influence to get USCIS bureaucrats to put a Nevada EB-5 project on a fast track.

The issue is this:

• The EB-5 program is unfairly criticized.
• EB-5 applicants may be unfairly, overly scrutinized compared to applicants for other types of visas.
• If one part of the system is broken, in effect, the whole system is broken. Try driving a car with just on broken piston rod.

We advocate for reasonable equity across all visa application types. Every individual needs to be adequately vetted, but, other than verifying the source of investment funds, why should the EB-5 be any more difficult than any other?