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Risk and compliance

Regional center termination

Also called terminated regional center, notice of intent to terminate, NOIT, Notice of Termination.

Regional center termination is USCIS ending a center's designation, after which the center may not solicit, generate or promote EB-5 investors or otherwise take part in the program, and its investors lose their petitions 180 days after USCIS notifies them unless they move to another center or another new commercial enterprise.

What it decides

USCIS first issues a notice of intent to terminate setting out the grounds, and the center has 30 days from receipt to rebut, under 8 CFR 204.6(m)(6)(ii) through (v). A notice of intent is not a termination: the center keeps operating while USCIS decides, and the decision may instead be a notice of reaffirmation. That regulation, still written for the pre-2022 pilot program, carries only two grounds, failing to file the required annual information or pay its fee, and no longer serving the purpose of promoting economic growth. The 2022 statute added more. USCIS must terminate a center that refuses or deliberately impedes its audit, and may terminate for a missing or knowingly false annual statement, for keeping a barred person involved or giving a false attestation, and for securities violations. A terminated center may appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office or move to reopen, but it sits on the published list meanwhile, marked with an asterisk. USCIS warns that list, which shows only name, identifier, date and state, may be neither complete nor accurate. The 180 day rescue is closed to an investor USCIS believes knowingly took part in the conduct behind the termination.

Governed by 8 CFR 204.6(m)(6)(ii) through (v) for the notice of intent to terminate, the two regulatory grounds, the 30 days from receipt to rebut, the final decision and the appeal under 8 CFR 103.3; 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E)(vii)(III) for mandatory termination on refusing or impeding the audit, (G)(iii) for sanctions up to termination over annual statements, (H)(iv) for prohibited persons and false attestations and (I)(iv) for securities violations; 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(M)(i) to (iii) and (vi) for the 180 days running from USCIS notification and for the knowing participant exception; USCIS, Regional Center Terminations, last reviewed 1 February 2021, for the notice of reaffirmation, the bar on soliciting, generating or promoting investors, the contents of the terminated list and its asterisk. That USCIS page predates the 2022 Act and states only the two regulatory grounds, so it is good for practice and useless for the statutory grounds.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into regional center termination rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

  • Regional centerA regional center is an economic unit, public or private, that USCIS has designated to sponsor pooled EB-5 investment within a defined, contiguous and limited geographic area, and it is the only route on which a petition may count indirect and induced jobs.
  • Good faith investor protectionGood faith investor protection is the rule at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(M) that keeps an EB-5 petition or conditional residence alive after USCIS terminates the regional center or debars the new commercial enterprise or job creating entity, provided the investor cures within 180 days of being notified and was not a knowing participant in the conduct behind it.
  • Compliance auditA compliance audit, which USCIS calls a regional center audit, is the review USCIS must conduct on every designated regional center at least once every five years under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E)(vii)(II), examining the records the center must keep and the flow of investor capital into its capital investment projects.
  • Debarment and suspensionDebarment and suspension are the EB-5 sanctions the USCIS Director imposes on a non-compliant regional center or the individuals behind it: a suspension is temporary and lifts if the violation is cured, while a debarment is a permanent bar, and both sit on one graduated ladder that also carries fines and termination of the regional center's designation.
  • Regional Center ProgramThe Regional Center Program is the branch of EB-5 under which an investor files through a designated regional center and may count indirectly created jobs toward the ten-job requirement, and it is authorized through 30 September 2027.

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