United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) Regional Center Program

In 1990, Congress created the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Immigrant Investor Program, also known as the Employment-Based Fifth Preference Program. The program’s intent was to stimulate the United States (U.S.) economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Three years later, the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 created the regional center pilot program for pooling investor money in a defined industry and geographic area. Our audit objective was to determine whether the USCIS’ Employment-Based Fifth Preference regional center program is administered and managed effectively