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The programme

Sunset and reauthorization

Also called sunset date, 30 September 2027, program authorization.

The regional center program's visa authorization runs through 30 September 2027 under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E), and only an act of Congress can extend it.

What it decides

8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E)(i) reads: "Visas under this subparagraph shall be made available through September 30, 2027". USCIS states the same date. Its Policy Manual says the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 "became effective on May 14, 2022 and authorizes the Regional Center Program through September 30, 2027", so the regional center provisions run from 14 May 2022 even though the Act was signed on 15 March 2022. Two dates matter and they are not the same. 30 September 2027 is the sunset. 30 September 2026 is the cutoff in subparagraph (S), "Protection from expired legislation", which requires USCIS to keep processing regional center petitions filed on or before that date, bars denial on the ground that the authorization expired, and bars suspending visas for the beneficiaries of those approved petitions. By its terms (S) reaches no further, so a petition filed after 30 September 2026 does not carry that protection. Direct EB-5 under subparagraph (A) carries no expiration date at all, so a lapse would stop new regional center visas without touching standalone filings.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E)(i) and 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(S), text in effect 4 August 2026 (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1153&num=0&edition=prelim); USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 1, Purpose and Background (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-g-chapter-1)

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into sunset and reauthorization rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

  • GrandfatheringThe rule at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(S) that requires DHS to keep processing a regional center investor's petition, and to keep visas flowing to approved ones, even if the legislation authorizing the regional center program expires, provided the petition was filed on or before 30 September 2026.
  • Program lapseThe period from 1 July 2021 to 14 May 2022 when no statute authorized the EB-5 regional center program, so no investor could file a regional center petition. USCIS rejected regional center petitions received on or after 1 July 2021 and suspended adjudication of those already pending. Standalone petitions were unaffected.
  • Direct EB-5Direct EB-5, which USCIS calls the standalone program, is an EB-5 investment made without a regional center and filed on Form I-526, where only the full-time jobs created by the new commercial enterprise itself, or by its wholly owned subsidiaries, count toward the ten.

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