Prominent journalist James McGregor, author of One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Buisness in China and the 2010 report China's Drive for "Indigenous Innovation" - A Web of Industrial Policies has been touring China discussing the U.S. economy and promoting EB-5 investments by the Midland Investment Group, a California based investment management company which is developing projects for a regional center based in Oregon. 

Following the publication of the New York Times article on the EB-5 visa program, Rules Stretched as Green Cards Go to Investors, and the follow-up editorial in the Times, EB5Info asked for and received comments from a number of economists and professionals whose job it is to interpret census tract data and submit requests to State officials for TEA designations to qualify their EB-5 visa projects for Regional Center designation by USCIS.  The following is a compilation of opinions and thoughts from that request. 

The article Rules Stretched as Green Cards Go to Investors by Patrick McGeehan and Kirk Semple of the New York Times has spurred a significant amount of commentary by EB-5 industry insiders, federal and state government officials, and advocates and critics of the EB-5 visa program. But interestingly enough, much of the feedback obtained by EB5Info was in agreement on one essential point:

If you're an attorney who counsels clients on the selection of an EB-5 visa investment, here's an article that's definitely worth a look. Well-known and respected Miami immigration attorney Roger Bernstein has published the article Tips on Selecting an EB-5 Regional Center, which illustrates the dramatic changes in the EB-5 visa program that we have all witnessed over the past few years. 

The Victorville saga is over. Maybe.

Last September, USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas participated in discussions with EB-5 stakeholders in an in-person and phone-in session dubbed "Conversations with the Director."

It happened again, and it probably won't be the last time.

It looks like the EB-5 community will have to keep waiting for most of USCIS' proposed reforms.

Will we really have EB-5 premium processing this month?