NEW YORK CITY-As access to traditional forms of capital continues to tighten, an often underlooked source of funding can help foreign investors establish themselves in the US while benefiting the American economy: the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Panelists discussed “The Art of the EB-5 Real Estate Transaction” at a conference hosted by Akerman Senterfitt in conjunction with the Urban Land Institute and the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate on Monday morning at the Cornell Club in Midtown Manhattan.

The history of the EB-5 program goes back to the early 1990s, when Congress passed the law as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990. The original program allowed foreign investors to secure a preferred visa category status by providing funding to a business that benefits the US economy or saves at least 10 full-time jobs for American workers, explained Steven Polivy, chair of economic development and incentives practice at Akerman Senterfitt.

The law was subsequently expanded in 1992 to allow creation of regional centers, which is a legal entity--like a state or private entity--that seeks to promote economic growth by coordinating foreign investment into a targeted geographic region. With the aim of creating jobs and economic activity, the required investment amount for a regional center is around $1 million, Polivy said. “These changes, together with the utilization of the regional center program, has made the EB-5 program a real, vital active program that makes a lot of sense for real estate and all types of investment,” he said.