EB-5 \u00b7 Investor briefing<\/p>\n
September 30, 2026 is the EB-5 grandfathering deadline<\/strong>, not the date the program ends. The Regional Center Program remains in effect through September 30, 2027<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Updated September 2026<\/p>\n September 30, 2026<\/p>\n Filing deadline for grandfathering protection<\/p>\n September 30, 2027<\/p>\n Current expiration date of the Regional Center Program<\/p>\n January 1, 2027<\/p>\n Scheduled inflation adjustment to investment amounts<\/p>\n US$800,000<\/p>\n Current minimum investment for projects in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA)<\/p>\n 01 Key concept<\/p>\n Under the grandfathering provision of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA Section 203(b)(5)(S)), if the Regional Center Program expires, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must continue to process petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026.<\/p>\n A petition is not denied solely because the program expires. Nor is visa issuance for beneficiaries of an approved petition suspended for that reason alone.<\/p>\n This protection first appeared in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA). In the more than 30 years before that, EB-5 law had no comparable provision.<\/p>\n September 30, 2026 is not the date the EB-5 program ends<\/p>\n It only determines which petitions are grandfathered. A Form I-526E filed on October 1, 2026 still falls within the program’s current authorization period; it simply no longer has grandfathering protection.<\/p>\n 02 Key dates and figures<\/p>\n Date<\/p>\n What it affects<\/p>\n What changes after the date<\/p>\n September 30, 2026<\/p>\n Grandfathering<\/p>\n Petitions filed after this date are no longer protected by grandfathering<\/p>\n January 1, 2027<\/p>\n Investment amount<\/p>\n Investment amounts are adjusted for inflation for the first time, then every 5 years thereafter<\/p>\n September 30, 2027<\/p>\n Program authorization<\/p>\n The program must be reauthorized by the U.S. Congress to continue operating<\/p>\n 03 History<\/p>\n 1990<\/p>\n EB-5 established<\/p>\n Created to attract foreign capital and create jobs in the United States.<\/p>\n 1992<\/p>\n Regional Center Program created<\/p>\n Channeling investor capital into economic development projects.<\/p>\n 1992\u20132021<\/p>\n Periodic reauthorizations<\/p>\n The program was extended many times, each time amid political debate.<\/p>\n June 30, 2021<\/p>\n Program lapses<\/p>\n Congress did not pass a reauthorization in time.<\/p>\n March 2022<\/p>\n RIA signed into law<\/p>\n The law extended the program to 2027 and overhauled its regulatory framework. Grandfathering was created by this law.<\/p>\n September 30, 2026<\/p>\n Filing deadline for grandfathering protection<\/p>\n The cutoff that determines which petitions are protected.<\/p>\n September 30, 2027<\/p>\n The program’s current expiration date<\/p>\n When the program next needs to be reauthorized.<\/p>\n 04 Lessons from the past<\/p>\n On June 30, 2021, the Regional Center Program lapsed. It remained suspended for nearly nine months.<\/p>\n USCIS held pending regional center petitions in abeyance and did not accept new regional center petitions during this period.<\/p>\n The program was not abolished; it was reauthorized by the RIA, with a stricter regulatory framework than before.<\/p>\n This is the only precedent, so it should be read with caution. The legal framework is different today, and petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026 are protected by grandfathering, a safeguard investors did not have in 2021.<\/p>\n 05 Six legal and practical grounds<\/p>\n A<\/p>\n When major shortcomings have emerged, Congress has tended to reform the program rather than eliminate it.<\/p>\n B<\/p>\n The law extended the program to 2027, raised transparency requirements, established the EB-5 Integrity Fund, and strengthened oversight of projects and intermediaries.<\/p>\n C<\/p>\n The program has lapsed before and was restored.<\/p>\n D<\/p>\n Between 2016 and 2019, the program raised approximately US$17.5 billion in EB-5 capital, out of US$75.2 billion in total project investment.<\/p>\n E<\/p>\n The program is estimated to have created approximately 1.7 million jobs and contributed approximately US$184 billion to U.S. GDP.<\/p>\n F<\/p>\n The RIA was the result of years of collaboration between Senator Chuck Grassley and former Senator Patrick Leahy.<\/p>\n Source for the economic impact figures: IIUSA<\/p>\n 06 Minimum investment rules<\/p>\n Project type<\/p>\n Current minimum investment<\/p>\n Projects in a TEA or qualifying infrastructure projects<\/p>\n US$800,000<\/p>\n Standard minimum investment<\/p>\n US$1,050,000<\/p>\n The RIA codified an automatic inflation adjustment to these amounts, taking effect January 1, 2027 and recurring every 5 years.<\/p>\n DHS has not yet officially announced the investment amounts that will apply from 2027<\/p>\n Based on the statutory formula and available inflation data, the TEA investment amount is projected at approximately US$900,000 or higher. This is an estimate, not a figure confirmed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n October 1, 2026 \u2013 December 31, 2026<\/p>\n The program remains in effect, and the minimum investment for TEA projects remains US$800,000. The only difference is that petitions filed during this period no longer have grandfathering protection.<\/p>\n 07 Practical considerations<\/p>\n What does not change<\/p>\n Misconceptions to avoid<\/p>\n The EB-5 opportunity does not end on September 30, 2026. What changes is that investors need a clearer understanding of the type of risk they are taking on, when they expect to file, and the potential increase in investment amounts from 2027.<\/p>\n September 30, 2026 does not end the EB-5 program and does not take away your right to file. It only determines which petitions are protected by grandfathering if the Regional Center Program is not reauthorized when its current authorization ends on September 30, 2027.<\/p>\n Each petition is affected differently, depending on when the investor can actually file and how complete that petition is.<\/p>\n This page provides general information about the EB-5 program, based on U.S. legal provisions in effect as of September 7, 2026. It is not legal advice for any specific case, does not replace the advice of a licensed U.S. immigration attorney, and makes no recommendation on any investment decision or filing date. Rules, policies, and how the program is administered may change. The investment amounts from January 1, 2027 are estimates and will change once the relevant authorities announce official figures.<\/p>\n IMM \u00b7 IMM GROUP<\/p>\n IMM Group \u00b7 International investment migration advisory since 2005 \u2014 IMM Group advises only on entrepreneur and investor programs and does not accept overseas labor placement or unskilled worker cases (EB-3 and similar).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" EB-5 \u00b7 Investor briefing EB-5 Grandfathering Deadline: What Filing After September 30, 2026 Means for Investors September 30, 2026 is the EB-5 grandfathering deadline, not the date the program ends. The Regional Center Program remains in effect through September 30, 2027. Updated September 2026 September 30, 2026 Filing deadline for grandfathering protection September 30, 2027 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"1","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-adv":"","_yoast_wpseo_bctitle":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4174,4175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eb5","category-us","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"What EB-5 grandfathering actually means<\/h2>\n
Three dates, three distinct effects<\/h2>\n
Three decades of EB-5: a look back at periods of change<\/h2>\n
The 2021 precedent: what actually happened to the program?<\/h2>\n
What happened<\/h4>\n
Pending petitions<\/h4>\n
Outcome<\/h4>\n
Why reauthorization appears more likely than termination<\/h2>\n
Legislative history<\/h4>\n
How the 2022 RIA is structured<\/h4>\n
The 2021 precedent<\/h4>\n
Scale of capital flows<\/h4>\n
Economic impact<\/h4>\n
Bipartisan consensus<\/h4>\n
EB-5 minimum investment amounts and the January 1, 2027 adjustment<\/h2>\n
Filing after September 30, 2026: where you actually stand and misconceptions to avoid<\/h2>\n
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