Category: News

CMB Announces the New EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Regulations Have Taken Effect, What Does That Mean?

The new EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Regulations are effective. Although there are many changes to the EB-5 program that are included in the new regulations, the biggest changes are: increased minimum investment amounts, new targeted employment area (TEA) definitions, and designating authority of TEAs is taken away from the State and the United States Citizenship and […]

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New EB-5 Rules May Not Take Effect on Nov 21 as 6-Year Re-Authorization Likely This Year

New EB-5 rules raising the minimum investment to $900,000 are scheduled to take effect this week. But President Kraft of IIUSA thinks there’s a good chance that won’t happen. The new re-authorization bill “definitely eliminates gerrymandering, makes it very clear what projects would qualify in urban distressed areas and in rural areas,” says Kraft, speaking […]

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Real Estate Stakeholders Worried Over Future of Passport Scheme

Cyprus decided to revoke 26 citizenships granted to investors after the government came under intense pressure following allegations that members of Cambodia’s political elite and a fugitive Malaysian financier received Cypriot EU passports. These cases led to increased criticism of Cyprus’ Citizenship for Investment which was already under scrutiny from Brussels. Those to be stripped […]

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After Three Years of Decline, Australia’s SIV Program Regains Momentum

In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, Australia’s Significant Investor Visa (SIV), a substream of the country’s broader Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) saw its fortunes reverse for the first time since July 2015, when investment requirements were re-channeled toward private equity and venture capital and away from real estate, sending application volumes plummeting. Performance picked up markedly […]

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EESC Echoes Eur. Parliament’s “Phase-Out” Call – “Intellectually Disingenuous,” Says IMC

The Investment Migration Council (IMC) expresses chagrin at being excluded from consultations on a report it says was “hijacked by ill-informed, unaccountable third party organizations.” In an opinion adopted yesterday, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) “echoes the European Parliament’s call in a recent report to phase out all investor schemes, and urges the Member States […]

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EU Voices Concerns; Vanuatu Promises Improved Due Diligence

Vanuatu’s two Citizenship by Investment Programmes, the Vanuatu Development Support Programme (VDSP) and the Vanuatu Contribution Programme (VCP), have become significant sources of revenue for the Pacific island-state. In 2018, the Programmes contributed around US$90 million to the Government’s reserves, and in June 2019, the Government had already collected approximately US$45 million from its economic […]

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