Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Dec 10, 2009
Employment Benefit Act - Amends the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 to: (1) make the alien investor visa (EB-5) regional center program permanent; (2) establish a $2,500 regional center designation fee; and (3) increase visa set-asides for such program.
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act regarding EB-5 provisions to: (1) establish a $2,500 premium processing fee; (2) establish in the Treasury the Immigrant Entrepreneur Regional Account Center; (3) permit concurrent filing for EB-5 petitions and status adjustment applications; (4) expand the definition of "targeted employment area" for purposes of visa set-asides; and (5) expand EB-5 eligibility to include investors who have completed investment agreements with a qualified venture capital operating company or with an "angel investor" (U.S. citizen- or permanent resident-owned entity or an entity that has made specified commercial enterprise investments).
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze H.R.4259 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine H.R.4259 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine H.R.4259 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine H.R.4259 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.