Federal officials shut down foreign investment program in El Monte

October 6, 2011
Category: EB-5, Regional Center, USCIS

The federal government has shut down a program here that allowed foreign investors to obtain green cards in exchange for investing $500,000 in the El Monte Transit Village project, officials said Wednesday.

See full story: PASADENA STAR NEWS

The EB-5 Program makes 10,000 visas available annually to immigrant investors who invest in commercial enterprises that create at least 10 U.S. jobs. EB-5 investors may petition independently or as part of a USCIS-designated Regional Center. The El Monte Project had been designated as a Regional Center.

City officials Wednesday celebrated the decision by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – which runs the EB-5 regional center program – to shut down the local program.

The closure comes as the former developers of the public- private partnership have fallen under heightened federal scrutiny, including an FBI investigation. Despite the investigations and the city disassociating itself from developers Transit Village LLC and San Francisco-based Cross Ocean Holdings in 2009, the developers continue to seek overseas Chinese investors, city officials said.

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Federal officials shut down foreign investment program in El Monte

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