Congress created several nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories as a way to increase investment and job creation in the United States. There are two nonimmigrant investor visa categories, the E-1 visa for treaty traders and the E-2 visa for treaty investors. For immigrants, there is one investor visa category, the EB-5 visa, which is the fifth employment preference immigrant visa category. The EB-5 visa was created through the Immigration Act of 1990 ( P.L. 101-649 ). The goal of the EB-5 category is to attract new foreign capital investment to the United States and generate employment. The category provides individual foreign national investors and their derivatives lawful permanent residence (LPR) in the United States when they invest a specified amount of capital in a new commercial enterprise that creates at least 10 jobs. In general, individuals receiving EB-5 visas are granted a conditional residence status. After approximately two years they must apply to remove the conditionality from their residency status. If they have met the visa requirements (i.e., invested and sustained the required money and created the required jobs), the foreign national receives full LPR status. If the foreign national investor has not met the requirements or does not apply to have the conditional status removed, his or her conditional LPR status is terminated, and, generally, the foreign national is required to leave the United States, or will be placed in removal proceedings. Some Members of Congress contended during discussions around the creation of the visa that potential immigrants would be "buying their way in" to the United States. Others maintained that the program's requirements would protect its integrity. The Senate Judiciary Committee report on the originating legislation stated that it "is intended to provide new employment for U.S. workers and to infuse new capital into the country, not to provide immigrant visas to wealthy individuals." In 1992, Congress created the Regional Center Program, an additional pathway for foreign national investors to obtain an EB-5 visa. Unlike the EB-5 visa category, which does not expire, the Regional Center Program is temporary and is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2016. By investing through a regional center, foreign national investors are subject to different requirements pertaining to the measure of job creation, and are unlikely to be involved in the management of the commercial enterprise. For each fiscal year, approximately 7.1% (roughly 10,000) of the total employment-based visas (140,000) are available for EB-5 investors and their derivatives, of which 3,000 are reserved for entrepreneurs investing in "targeted employment areas" (TEA), and 3,000 are reserved for those participating in the Regional Center Program. The upcoming expiration date of the Regional Center Program has renewed congressional focus on the EB-5 visa category. Questions include whether the Regional Center Program should be extended or made permanent, and if so should it be modified, or should it be allowed to expire. There are additional concerns that Congress may consider with respect to the EB-5 visa category as a whole. For example, the required amounts of capital have not changed since the program was created in 1990. This has raised questions about whether the amounts should be adjusted, and what effect increasing the amounts would have on the number of applicants. Some have also raised concerns about fraud in the program, including possible national security concerns. Thus, Congress may choose to evaluate the oversight of the EB-5 category and the fraud detection mechanisms used during EB-5 adjudications. Other issues that have been raised include the capacity of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)) to handle the complexity of regional center designations and EB-5 petition adjudications, the need for more data collection, the measurement of the visa's economic impacts, and state determinations of targeted employment areas. This report begins with a discussion of the EB-5 visa's requirements and an overview of the Regional Center Program. It then provides information on the EB-5 application (petition) process, admissions, and the economic impacts of the visa. Next, the report reviews policy issues surrounding the visa and the Regional Center Program, specifically application processing, USCIS expertise, the measurement of economic impacts, fraud and security risks, data collection, and the determination of targeted employment areas. The report concludes with a summary of current legislation on the EB-5 visa and the Regional Center Program in the 114 th Congress. The Appendix provides additional data on the visa. The EB-5 visa classification for foreign investors is based on three components: (1) investment of capital, (2) a new commercial enterprise, and (3) job creation. Currently, there are two different pathways for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status through the EB-5 visa category, the standard visa and the Regional Center Program. The overwhelming majority of investors invest through the Regional Center Program. Both pathways have the same requirements with respect to the amount of capital required to be invested and the minimum number of jobs to be created, but they differ in the measure of job creation. In addition, the role of the investor in the enterprise tends to differ between the two pathways. A foreign national must invest at least $1,000,000 in a new commercial enterprise to qualify for the EB-5 visa. If the immigrant decides to invest in a designated "targeted employment area," (TEA) the required minimum is $500,000. For both investment pathways, capital can include non-cash contributions, but the immigrant investor must establish that he/she is the legal owner of the capital and that it was obtained through lawful means. Additionally, the entire investment must be "at risk" for the purpose of generating a return. A commercial enterprise is "any for-profit activity formed for the ongoing conduct of lawful business," such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, holding company, joint venture, corporation, business trust, or other publicly or privately owned entity. A new commercial enterprise is one established after November 29, 1990. If the commercial enterprise was established before November 29, 1990, the immigrant investor's capital must have been used to expand or restructure/reorganize the enterprise. Applicants are also allowed to invest funds in "troubled businesses." The immigrant investor must be engaged in the management of the commercial enterprise through policy formation, daily managerial responsibilities, or direct management. In order to meet the requirements for the EB-5 visa, the foreign national's investment capital must create a minimum of 10 jobs in the new commercial enterprise. The EB-5 visa has three different measures of job creation. 1. If an immigrant invests in a troubled business, directly or through a regional center, rather than creating new jobs, he/she can show that they have preserved jobs for at least two years, in lieu of creating new jobs. 2. Investments made in a new commercial enterprise in a non-regional center context must create 10 jobs within the commercial enterprise. (Such jobs are called direct or payroll jobs.) 3. For new commercial enterprises located within a regional center, the 10 new jobs required can be created directly or indirectly (i.e., employees not working directly for the commercial enterprise). The Regional Center Program was originally authorized in the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act in 1992. Since its creation, the program has been reauthorized several times and is set to expire on September 30, 2016. The program was established as a pilot to achieve the economic growth and job creation goals of the immigrant investor statute by encouraging immigrants to invest in commercial enterprises located within economic units known as "regional centers." In order to receive investment from foreign nationals wishing to obtain EB-5 status, a regional center must be designated as such by USCIS. Regional centers are intended to provide a coordinated focus of foreign investment toward specific geographic regions (see section entitled " What is a Regional Center? " for a detailed discussion). In other words, regional centers pool the investments of multiple EB-5 investors. The Regional Center Program differs from the standard EB-5 visa in three ways ( Table 1 ). First, although both pathways require individual investors to create at least 10 jobs, in the regional center context indirect job creation may be counted instead of or in addition to direct job creation. Second, unlike the standard EB-5 visa, foreign nationals investing in a regional center are unlikely to be involved in the management and daily activities of the commercial enterprise. Third, the EB-5 visa category is permanent, while the Regional Center Program is temporary. As previously mentioned, the program is set to expire on September 30, 2016. Foreign nationals may invest in any of the regional centers that are currently approved to qualify for their conditional LPR status. Also, investments may be both within a regional center and a TEA. Although a regional center does not have to be in a TEA, almost all foreign nationals applying for EB-5 status invest with regional centers whose defined boundaries constitute a TEA. (See Figure 1 .) Regional centers are defined as "any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, including increased export sales, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment." More simply, the term "regional center" refers to an entity (often a limited partnership or a limited liability corporation) where investment from multiple foreign nationals can be pooled to fund a broad range of projects within a specific geographic area. Regional centers can be privately owned, publicly owned (operated by a city, county, state, or economic development agency), or a public-private partnership. There are many different models for regional centers, such as the lending model, where the new commercial enterprise is a lending entity that provides loans to those (e.g., U.S. citizens) seeking funding for business activities, such as new construction or expansions of their operations.