USCIS Regional Centers Must Pay Anti-Fraud Fees, DC Circuit Says

The initial generation of “regional centers” that allow foreign investors to receive permanent resident status by investing capital into businesses must pay fees to monitor and report fraud, the DC Circuit said.

The court affirmed a district court opinion holding that 600-plus centers that have been active since before 2022 aren’t exempt from an annual fee because “there is no retroactivity problem with our reading of the fee provision,” said Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson on behalf of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Congress in 1990 established the EB-5 program—an employment-based, “fifth preference” visa program ...