EB5 Regional Center Fees for EB5 Integrity Fund

Beginning on March 2, 2023, the USCIS implemented an annual fee requirement for EB5 regional centers. The money collected from the fees will go toward the USCIS's EB-5 Integrity Fund. Below, we explain briefly what the new rule means in practice for EB5 regional centers.

Related: See our articles on the EB5 program and investment immigration generally [see category].

Regional centers with more than 20 investors will be required to pay an annual fee of $20,000.

Regional centers with 20 or fewer investors will be required to pay an annual fee of $10,000.

Regional centers are required to pay the annual fee for fiscal year 2023 by April 1, 2023. Payments are made online at pay.gov, which is managed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Beginning in fiscal year 2024, the annual EB5 Integrity Fund fee will be due at the start of the fiscal year between October 1 and October 31.

The USCIS will not impose late fees for payments due in fiscal year 2023, although regional centers should nevertheless ensure that they make the fiscal year 2023 payment by April 1, 2023, as required under the new regulation.

The USCIS will begin imposing late fees for fiscal year 2024 payemnts, which are due in October 2023. Late fees will kick in when the fee payment has not been made more than 30 days later than the due date. The USCIS has not decided on the late fee penalties as of March 14, 2023.

If a regional center fails to make a payment within 90 days of the due date, the USCIS will terminate its regional center designation. This applies for fiscal year 2023 payments as well as payments for fiscal year 2024 and beyond. However, the USCIS explains that it will not terminate a regional center designation for failure to pay the EB5 Integrity Fund fee automatically. Instead, the USCIS will provide the regional center with notice of intent to terminate and give the regional center the opportunity to prove that it paid the fee within 90 days of the due date. Note that this notice does not provide the regional center with the opportunity to make a payment beyond the 90-day lateness threshold.

See USCIS news release on the new rule [link] and Federal Register notice [link].