Judge Rules Against Trump Era Changes to EB-5

In a win for the real estate industry, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the Behring Co., operator of Behring Regional Center, in its request to vacate the EB-5 Modernization Rule implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2019.

In the ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley supported Behring’s argument that the DHS officials responsible for enacting the rule, which updated various regulations governing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program, had no legal authority to make the changes because they were unlawfully appointed in violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. The EB-5 program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990 as a method for providing qualified immigrant investors the opportunity to obtain a permanent green card.