The EB-5 investor visa program allows a foreign national to obtain a green card if he or she invests money in the United States which creates jobs in the United States. An individual must invest $1 million, or $500,000 in certain rural or high-unemployment areas, and create or preserve at least 10 U.S. Worker jobs. The foreign national can invest directly in his or her own project or in a government approved Regional Center. A Regional Center assembles and manages EB-5 investment projects and an investment in a Regional Center project can count direct and indirect job creation.

Critics of the EB-5 program say that it has fraud and security risks. Without action by Congress, the program will expire on September 30, 2016. The organizations said in their letter to Congress that the program has played an important role in creating jobs in the United States, and allowing it to lapse would have “immediate negative consequences” to U.S. projects and businesses counting on EB-5 funding.

“The EB-5 Regional Center program, while imperfect, has resulted in investments in the United States exceeding $15 billion in the last 10 years which have generated 100,000 U.S. jobs,” said Stewart Rabinowitz, a Dallas immigration attorney with Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C. “Instead of killing a program with substantial employment impact, Congress should consider integrity and other program improvements.”

An attempt to renew the program failed in the Senate in December, 2015.. Lawmakers agree that stronger national security and anti-fraud provisions are needed, and the organizations said in their letter that they support those reforms. The coalition said that lawmakers and stakeholders should join together to build consensus and create a compromise reform package.

The new AAO decision, In the Matter of Simeio Solutions LLC, holds that if a new Labor Condition Application (LCA) is filed for an H-1B employee to reflect a change in work location that is outside the metropolitan statistical area of the original worksite or worksites set forth on the LCA and in the original H-1B petition, then the H-1B employer must now file an amended petition with a new LCA with USCIS for that worker.

The requirement of an amended petition only applies when the work location is in a different MSA, or metropolitan statistical area, from the original work location. Therefore, an amended petition is not necessary when a worker is moved to a different worksite within the same MSA, although the original LCA must still be posted at the new worksite. Similarly, an amended petition is not needed when a worker is simply traveling to a non-worksite location, such as for a training event. In some circumstances, a worker may also be placed at a new worksite, even in a different MSA, for a short-term placement without the need for an amended petition. This applies when the original worksite is still the employee’s base, but the worker is moved to a different worksite for less than 30 days, or in some cases, 60 days.

Subsequent to the AAO decision, which USCIS considers to apply retroactively, USCIS issued guidance to employers, stating that employers who move H-1B employees to new worksites prior to the issuance of the decision have until August 19, 2015 to file amended petitions.

Stewart Rabinowitz, Board Certified, Immigration and Nationality Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, PC. is an immigration law firm representing businesses, families, and individuals.