EB5 Investors Magazine "Top 25 issue" Volume 9 Issue 1 | Page 68

TOP ATTORNEYS IN SPECIALIZED FIELDS
DAVID HIRSON
DAVID HIRSON & PARTNERS

David Hirson has 40 years of experience in U . S . immigration law , specializing in business and investment immigration . He is the founding and manager partner of David Hirson & Partners , LLP , and he is internationally recognized for his decades of success in investment immigration , specifically EB-5 . Hirson and his partners have decades of experience in advising individuals , start-ups , large corporations , hospitals , and universities in navigating complex areas of employment immigration . The firm ’ s business and employment-based immigration practice provides a full range of immigration services for all U . S . visa types . Hirson also specializes in guiding franchise businesses who have foreign partners / managers .

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE EB-5 REFORM AND INTEGRITY ACT OF 2022 ?
The RIA has been in the works for many years . The expressed intent was to create a safe environment for foreign investors and reduce the level of fraud . While this objective appears to be fully accomplished , the EB-5 industry was generally in favor of the new security provisions . Of great concern was the interpretation by USCIS of the law by stating that the new act totally ended the original regional center “ pilot ” program
and replaced it . It seems that USCIS will continue adjudicating cases filed prior to June 30 , 2021 . It is not clear what will happen with all of those pending cases as USCIS streamlines its policy , issues new forms and will probably issue new regulations .
WHAT IMPACT DO YOU THINK THE PANDEMIC AND THE PROGRAM LAPSE HAVE HAD ON THE EB-5 INDUSTRY ?
Prior to the pandemic , the EB-5 program had already sustained a substantial downturn by reason all the difficulty to transfer funds from countries like China , the direction that Administration of the time issued to slow all adjudications and USCIS following this direction so that the number of EB-5 adjudications slowed to a trickle . The backlog of available visa numbers compounded the existing problem . The pandemic added to the problem with quarantines and lockdowns . The direct pool investment programs however flourished only to be cut off with the passing of the Reform & Integrity Act of 2022 . The direct employment program is now restricted to one investor . While I understand the reasoning for the controls that Congress wished to impose on the program , I believe that it would have been logical to set a minimum number of direct hire investors for investment in a small pool so that families , friends and others could come together in a single investment as has been the case over many years .
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68 EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE