An 11th hour omnibus spending bill was passed by Congress on September 28, 2016, breathing life back into several important immigration programs that were scheduled to expire on September 30th. The reprieve, however, is only good for a short period, as Congress must revisit this issue again on December 9th. Those in the immigration sphere are all too familiar with this type of Congressional can-kicking, as they have endured no fewer than three extensions since September 2015. The recent continuing resolution included provisions extending the Conrad 30 program, EB-4 religious worker visa program, E-Verify and the much maligned EB-5 investor program. President Obama signed the bill into law on September 29th. Meanwhile, Congress is sitting on proposed legislation that includes dramatic changes to the EB-5 investor program. Whether such legislation will be adopted this December has yet to be determined. If past Congressional actions are any indication, stakeholders may be facing another one-year extension to September 30, 2017.
