Immigrant Investor Program: Additional Actions Needed to Better Assess Fraud Risks and Report Economic Benefits (GAO-15-696)

GAO report (Aug 2015, 58 pp.) on EB-5 fraud risks and economic-benefit reporting: background on the programme and forms, USCIS/interagency fraud risk assessments, FDNS staffing and training, SEC tips and enforcement actions, open investigations, information-system limits, site visits, I-829 interviews, staffing of the Immigrant Investor Program Office, use of economic models (RIMS II), USCIS method for counting jobs and investment, one regional center project case study, the I-526/I-829 completion cohort, the Commerce (ESA) study, recommendations and DHS comments (image pages OCR-ed: no numbers). Extracted (with the 5 rows and 1 event already in the data): 73,730 jobs FY1990-FY2014 (USCIS minimum method); EB-5 visas issued FY2011 (almost 3,000) and FY2014 (over 9,000); 95% of FY2014 investments in regional centers; over 100 SEC tips Jan 2013-Jan 2015; 35 securities-fraud investigations of the 59; FDNS authorized 21 / onboard 12 (May 2015); IPO 58 adjudicators and 22 economists (June 2015), 9 adjudicators before 2014; 95% using economic models and 90% of those RIMS II; ~90% TEA / 10% full amount; 32 investors at USD 1 million in FY2013; ~10,000 approved I-526 (inception-FY2011), ~7,400 approved I-829 (to FY2014), 26% without approved I-829; one project: 450 investors, USD 225 million (30% of ~USD 750 million), 10,500 jobs; events: FDNS EB-5 fraud unit (Nov 2013), SEC v. Luca (6 Jul 2015). Not recorded (not programme quantities, derived, or rules): statutory ~10,000 visas and 7.1%, USD 1m/500k amounts (in program_terms), 150% unemployment and 20,000 population definitions; ~900 applications suspended in 1998 (GAO-05-256 history); a targeted sample of ~150 high-risk petitions; GAO sample sizes (28 files, 16 adjudicators, 8 economists, survey answers); 8 additional FDNS hires, 8 of 12 staff trained, six EB-5 University sessions; ELIS delay and USD 1 billion cost; IPO analysis that ~160 industries cannot create 10 jobs per USD 500,000, pharma 5 vs construction 10-12 jobs; GAO calculations (23 jobs per investor, 4,500 vs 6,000 jobs, USD 16 million difference, 315 investors / 3,150 jobs pro-rata counterfactual, ~2,600 remainder in notes); 316 million US population.