The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022 (RIA): a comprehensive reform and its impact on Vietnamese investors

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022 is the biggest reform of theVisa EB-5since the programme was established by the US Congress in 1990. The Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden on 15/03/2022 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 (Public Law 117-103, Div. BB). It reauthorised the Regional Center Program until 30/09/2027, while overhauling a whole range of fundamental rules on investment thresholds, visa quotas, oversight mechanisms and protection for good-faith investors.

For Vietnamese investors considering the green card route through investment, the 2022 reform act is more than a technical legal update. It reshapes the entire ecosystem: from costs, project structures and visa waiting times to the accountability of regional centres. Understanding these changes clearly is a prerequisite for preparing an application in the right direction and avoiding the risks that existed before the Act took effect.

The background to the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022

Before 2022, the EB-5 programme had operated for many years with some notable shortcomings. The minimum investment threshold had been set in 1990 at $1,000,000 USD (or $500,000 USD in a targeted employment area) and was not adjusted for inflation for three decades. In addition, some regional centres were accused of wrongdoing involving securities fraud, misuse of funds and misleading marketing to foreign investors.

Pressure for reform peaked when the legal basis of the Regional Center Program lapsed at the end of 30/06/2021. For nearly nine months afterwards, theU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)stopped accepting I-526 petitions through regional centres. Senators Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (Vermont) laid the groundwork for the reform bill, aiming to relaunch the programme with greater transparency and to redirect capital to areas genuinely in need of economic development.

When President Biden signed the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022 on 15/03/2022, the Act immediately repealed the old rules and introduced a new legal framework into the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), applying to all petitions filed from that date onwards.

The five most important changes in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022

The full Act spans dozens of technical provisions, but it can be boiled down to five core areas of change that every investor needs to understand.

Higher minimum investment thresholds

This is the change with the most direct impact on investors’ costs. According to the official announcement fromUSCIS on EB-5, the minimum investment thresholds were reset as follows:

• $1,050,000 USD for projects outside a targeted employment area (non-TEA).
• $800,000 USD for projects located in atargeted employment area (TEA) under EB-5, including Rural TEAs, High Unemployment TEAs and infrastructure projects.

The Act also provides for automatic adjustment in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) every 5 years, first taking effect for petitions filed from 01/01/2027. This means the $800,000 USD and $1,050,000 USD levels are only fixed until the end of 2026, after which they will rise with actual US inflation.

Creating the Reserved Visa category with a 32% quota

One of the Act’s landmark changes is the creation of the Reserved Visa category. Of the roughly 10,000 EB-5 visas issued each year, 32% are set aside for three priority project groups, under INA 203(b)(5)(B)(i):

• 20% for projects in rural areas (Rural TEA).
• 10% for projects in high-unemployment areas (High Unemployment TEA).
• 2% for infrastructure projects managed by government agencies (Infrastructure).

The remaining 68% belongs to the Unreserved category, applying to projects outside TEAs. This mechanism completely replaces the pre-RIA allocation model, which had no reserved category and no specific priority for any project group. The Act also requires USCIS to prioritise processing for rural projects, opening up the chance of shorter visa waits for investors from backlogged countries (China, India).

For Vietnamese investors, the advantage of Reserved Visas is that the Priority Date has generally been “current” in the early years of implementation, meaning a visa can be issued right after the I-526E is approved without queuing.

Abolishing pooled standalone investments and requiring pooled capital to go through a Regional Center

The RIA 2022 is clear: from 15/03/2022, investors who want to pool capital with other EB-5 investors must do so through a regional centre designated by USCIS. Under official USCIS guidance, all pooled standalone petitions (capital pooled outside a regional centre) filed from that date onwards are rejected at the intake stage.

This rule clearly separates the two EB-5 routes: Direct investors (using Form I-526) must run their own business and create jobs directly, while investors through regional centres (using Form I-526E) are passive investors who benefit from counting indirect and induced jobs.

Establishing the Integrity Fund and new oversight mechanisms

Another pillar of the Act is the creation of the EB-5 Integrity Fund. According toUSCIS information on the Integrity Fund, it is a dedicated fund to finance oversight of the Regional Center Program. Two financial mechanisms apply:

• An annual Integrity Fund fee collected from each regional centre: $20,000 USD for centres with more than 20 investors in the previous fiscal year, or $10,000 USD for centres with 20 or fewer investors.
• A $1,000 USD Integrity Fund surcharge on each I-526E petition filed from 01/10/2022 onwards, in addition to the regular filing fee.

Besides financial resources, the Act gives USCIS the authority to audit each regional centre at least once every 5 years under Government Auditing Standards (the Yellow Book), run background checks on regional centre managers, impose termination of designation on non-compliant centres, and carry out overseas investigations into investors’ sources of funds and promotional activities.

Protection for good-faith investors and Concurrent Filing

Before the RIA, if USCIS terminated a regional centre’s designation while an I-526 petition was still pending, the investor risked denial or revocation of an approved petition. The Act added INA 203(b)(5)(M), allowing good faith investors to keep their eligibility in certain circumstances, even when the regional centre is suspended.

Under USCIS guidance published on 11/10/2023, this protection applies to investors who filed both before and after 15/03/2022. For post-RIA investors, the Act also removes the requirement to sustain the investment throughout the entire period of conditional residence. Instead, the capital only needs to be “expected to remain invested for at least 2 years” under INA 203(b)(5)(A)(i).

A particularly important change for investors already in the United States is Concurrent Filing. Under this mechanism, investors can file Form I-526E together with Form I-485 (adjustment of status), I-765 (employment authorisation) and I-131 (advance parole), if their Reserved Visa category is current. This significantly shortens the wait for work authorisation and the right to travel internationally.

Petitions before and after 15/03/2022 — two parallel sets of rules

One point for Vietnamese investors to note is that USCIS runs two sets of adjudication rules in parallel, depending on when the petition was filed. I-526 petitions filed before 15/03/2022 are assessed under the old rules on investment thresholds, TEA definitions and capital-sustainment requirements. I-526 (Direct) or I-526E (Regional Center) petitions filed from 15/03/2022 onwards are subject to all the new rules of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022.

For I-829 petitions (removal of green card conditions), USCIS applies the rules in effect when the original I-526 or I-526E was filed. So an investor who filed an I-526 before 15/03/2022 and an I-829 later is still assessed on the I-829 under the pre-RIA rules. This principle has practical significance for investors in the transition between the two regimes.

Impact on Vietnamese investors

Vietnam is among the countries with less EB-5 visa backlog than mainland China and India. Even so, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022 creates both new advantages and new pressures for EB-5 applications from Vietnam.

On the plus side, the $800,000 USD threshold for Rural TEA, High Unemployment TEA and Infrastructure projects offers a lower-cost option than the $1,050,000 USD level outside TEAs. The Reserved Visa category is usually current for Vietnamese investors at the time of filing, shortening the path from I-526E to a conditional green card. The protection for good-faith investors also limits the risk of losing EB-5 eligibility because of a regional centre’s failings.

On the pressure side, investors must be especially careful when vetting regional centres and projects. USCIS’s authority to carry out periodic audits and terminate regional centre designations means more terminations are likely in the coming years. In addition, the standards for proving source of funds (SOF) and path of funds (POF) have become stricter under the Act’s additional integrity provisions.

Next steps for investors considering EB-5

For Vietnamese individuals and families considering the EB-5 programme, three foundational preparation steps should be taken before committing capital. The first is to check your financial criteria and personal legal documents against the requirements of the 2022 reform act, especially regardingEB-5 source of funds documentation. The next is to compare the two routes,Direct and Regional Center, to identify the model that fits your settlement goals and risk appetite. The last is to thoroughly vet the regional centre and project against the criteria under the new legal regime.

The RIA 2022 opens a more transparent EB-5 era with clearer investor protections, but it also demands more effort from investors in due diligence and application preparation. A solid grasp of the Act’s core provisions is essential for every US immigration investment decision in 2026 and the years that follow.

The investor protection layers added by RIA 2022 are matched against each specific risk group in the articleEB-5 risks: losing your capital and your green card.

RIA 2022 also tightened conditions for regional centres; the criteria for choosing one now that the law is in force are covered in the articleRegional Center EB-5.