The US State Department recently made it harder for foreigners to secure an investor visa, known as the EB-5 visa.

More specifically, the general minimum investment amount required to obtain an EB-5 visa will rise from $1 million to $1.8 million.

For foreign investors looking to invest in targeted employment areas (TEAs), areas with high unemployment, the minimum investment amount will be $900,000–the previous requirement stood at $500,000.

The EB-5 program was initially created to attract foreign investment in exchange for permanent resident status.

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the increase in minimum investment requirement accounts for inflation.

The last time minimum investment amounts were changed was in 1990.

On top of those changes, states will no longer have the authority to designate which areas qualify as TEAs.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security will have this power.

According to Thailand attorneys specializing in securing US immigration visas including EB-5 visas, the increased investment requirements won’t significantly lower investor visa applications, due to the worldwide attractiveness of the prospect of securing a US green card.

The changes to the EB-5 visa will take effect on November 21.

Read the full story here.

On September 28, 2015, several highly-skilled immigrant workers from India and China filed a federal class action lawsuit in the State of Washington against the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) over revisions to the October 2015 Visa Bulletin (Revised Visa Bulletin) that impacted them adversely. On September 30, an amended complaint was filed in federal court along with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, asking the court to order DHS to accept all Adjustment of Status applications that could have been filed under the Original Visa Bulletin published on September 9.

Read the full article at National Law Review.

Business attorneys in Bangkok Chaninat and Leeds have a team of fully bilingual lawyers who have been helping companies be successful in Thailand for decades.

A new category of “filing” cutoff dates has been introduced to allow for earlier filing of adjustment of status applications and immigrant visa applications.

The US Department of State (DOS) has released its October 2015 Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin sets out per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of adjustment of status and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals.

Read the whole story at National Law Review.

US immigration lawyers in Thailand Chaninat and Leeds have been successfully processing US visas for Thai nationals for decades.