Highlights of EB5AN’s Interview Series: “How to Choose an EB-5 Immigration Attorney”

Selecting the right EB-5 immigration attorney can make or break your EB-5 investment. A strong attorney will guide the source-of-funds strategy, prepare a clean and compliant I-526E petition, and position the case for the fastest possible approval. A weak attorney can do the opposite—adding months or years through avoidable delays, incomplete submissions, or preventable requests for evidence. For investors starting their EB-5 process with clear timelines and immigration goals, the attorney they choose will shape their entire experience.

This is where real investor experience becomes invaluable. New investors often have the same questions: How do I assess an attorney’s track record? How responsive should they be? What level of detail should I expect during document preparation? The most practical answers come from those who have already gone through the process. Hearing directly from successful EB-5 investors—who have built strategies, evaluated multiple attorneys, and navigated the petition process—offers a level of clarity that no abstract guidance can match.

EB5AN has published more than 20 full-length interviews with investors from around the world. No other EB-5 firm has assembled a library of firsthand accounts of this depth and transparency. These interviews have become one of the most useful resources for new investors who want grounded, real-world insight as they prepare for their own immigration filings.

This post is the eighth installment in our series revisiting some of the most compelling interviews in our archive and focusing on the most important components of a successful EB-5 experience. Today’s topic: how investors choose the EB-5 immigration attorney who will guide their petition, protect their timeline, and support a smooth path to the Green Card. The following insights stand out because they come from investors who did this well—and who explain, in practical terms, what they would advise others to look for from the very start.

We also invite you to watch these highlights in the following compilation video featuring our investors’ key responses.

Watch All EB-5 Investor Testimonials

Narrowing Down Attorneys

EB5AN has laid out critical questions to ask before hiring an EB-5 attorney that map closely to what experienced investors actually do.

So I end up talking to around five attorneys, and they were already whittled down from a bigger list. So I had searched multiple places online and who are the attorneys that are working and then shortened that list. And then I spoke to each of them individually, trying to understand how many EB-5 clients do they have, do they do per year. So I wanted to get an idea of what kind of volume they process, because the immigration and USCIS, there’s a back-and-forth even between you and the attorney and the attorney and you with USCIS, because occasionally USCIS might send an RFE, which is a request for evidence, and the attorney, an experienced attorney, will be able to deal with it much better. I know that from personal experience. In my job, I work with a very famous immigration attorney, but the downsides of a very big immigration attorney is you don’t get personalized attention. — Kumar (Rocky River Rural)

Kumar’s process is practical: build a list, narrow it down, then interview. What matters is not how impressive a firm looks online, but how it behaves once you are a real client with real deadlines. The best early filter is whether the attorney clearly explains their role in your case and how they manage filings, evidence, and follow-up—especially for EB-5 immigration attorneys who claim deep experience.

When you do those interviews, push for specifics. Ask how many EB-5 cases they handle, what kind of EB-5 work they do each week, and who actually touches your file. You are trying to learn whether you will get senior attention when it matters, and whether the firm has a repeatable process that produces clean submissions. That is exactly the focus of EB5AN’s guidance on how to select an EB-5 immigration attorney.

And at the end of the day, I interviewed probably four or five lawyers, and it all came down to the number of applications that they had gone through, their success rate, and really how well we meshed. Would they be around during times of trouble? So I have a little test where I call them unexpectedly or I send an email and I evaluate how quick their response is and how accurate their response is. At the end of the day, you take a risk no matter what, but I’m quite pleased so far with the work that’s been done with the law firm that we picked. — Mike (ONE Tampa Urban)

Mike’s advice helps you to determine whether the attorney will stay engaged when something gets complicated. His responsiveness test is also simple, but it reveals a lot: when you email with a specific question, do you get a clear answer quickly, or do you get vague replies and delays? That is part of the real work of an attorney, and it ties directly to the importance of working with an EB-5 immigration lawyer who can manage a high-stakes filing without drift.

Choose EB-5 Focus, Not General Immigration

A recurring theme across interviews is that investors did not want a “generalist” firm that treats EB-5 as one more case type. They wanted attorneys who work inside EB-5 rules, evidence standards, and timelines every day, because the I-526E submission is document-heavy and mistakes can be expensive.

I talked to at least three to four attorneys, mostly locally here in Bay Area, California. But what I found was most of them were general immigration attorneys who were handling all different type of cases, like your H-1Bs or other company-sponsored ones or EB-1A kind of stuff. But I wanted someone who was specifically concentrating on EB-5, who can understand the ins and outs of the EB-5 process and has been doing this for a longer time. — Anoop (Rocky River Rural)

Anoop’s point is straightforward: specialization matters because EB-5 has its own moving parts, and you want someone who has seen the patterns before. An EB-5-focused attorney should be able to explain each stage, what evidence USCIS expects, and what “complete” looks like for your case, in plain language. EB5AN’s step-by-step EB-5 process overview is useful here because it shows how the attorney’s work fits into the broader sequence.

That specialization also matters because EB-5 is not just about filing—it is about staying aligned with how USCIS actually reviews petitions. Attorneys who track adjudication trends and policy shifts can structure filings to reduce friction. EB5AN has detailed how USCIS processes EB-5 petitions under the RIA, and investors benefit when their attorney operates with that same level of precision.

Track Record of EB-5 Filings

So those were two of my factors. One is a little bit of personalized attention for my case, someone who cares about the case, and the second is someone who does a good amount of volume so that they can see the issues and be able to answer them quickly. — Kumar (Rocky River Rural)

A firm that regularly files EB-5 petitions is more likely to catch gaps before USCIS does, which is one reason investors focus on avoiding RFEs. EB5AN has specific guidance on how to avoid a request for evidence on your EB-5 application, and experienced attorneys build that discipline into their process.

Even with strong preparation, RFEs can still happen. What matters then is whether the attorney can respond quickly, fully, and with a clear strategy that fits the case record. If you want to understand what that response work looks like, EB5AN’s guide to responding to a USCIS request for evidence (RFE) gives a realistic picture of how gaps in evidence create delays and how attorneys manage the response packet.

Attorney Responsiveness

Because what I also found, which kind of affected my decision-making while selecting the attorney, was how responsive they are. Sometimes if you send an email to someone, if you hear back within four or five days, that means either they’re caught up with too much or maybe that’s their standard response time. And I was looking for faster response time, because I did want to get this done quickly, because you never know. Again, the reason why I wanted to do it quickly is because priority dates are current today but may not remain so in the future, so time is of the essence. — Kumar (Rocky River Rural)

A responsive attorney is more likely to submit your I-526E promptly. The earlier you file, the earlier you lock in your EB-5 priority date, and that date can matter if visa demand shifts and waiting lines grow. This is especially relevant for India and China.

Number one, how is the attorney communicating with you? Do we always have to go through their secretary, or do we have open lines of communication with the attorney or their partner? That was huge, that was a big thing for us. Second, their track record. Anahita and Nick (her partner), whenever we talked, we felt that they had such a strong grasp of the subject matter that we felt, “Okay, whatever they say is going to end up being the right choice or path for us to take.” Number three, going back to communication, how available are they to you? I know people who have been laid off. I know a couple of them really well, firsthand. These people went through EB-5, and they weren’t able to get their filing done in a timely manner, mainly because the attorney and their law firm weren’t available to them at all times. So that was a big factor for us. The best part is that both Nick and Anahita are so analytical. I believe Anahita even has experience as a tax attorney, so the understanding of numbers and how we could communicate to arrive at that source of funds document was very important to us. I think these are the four or five. Communication was such a huge thing to me because I was traveling a lot, and they would still get back to me, sometimes even on weekends. That was a big factor for us. — Rahul (Twin Lakes Rural)

If your filing stalls because your attorney is unreachable, you can lose time when it matters most. That is why investors pay attention to how a firm communicates and how it functions during busy periods. It also ties to visa planning: your timing decisions should be informed by how the visa system works, which is why many investors learn the basics of how to read the Visa Bulletin while their attorney handles the formal steps.

After reviewing the criteria for choosing an immigration attorney, Rahul chose to work with Anahita George, Esq., one of the leading attorneys in the EB-5 space.

I think we interviewed a handful of attorneys from smaller law firms to bigger law firms, and I think ultimately it’s a really personal decision and maybe a different practice were more important for me of being a lawyer myself. But in the end, we hired Anahita and her team from George and Marzialo, and they were actually the lawyers you had recommended to me during our first meeting. And I mean, it’s been an absolutely amazing experience for me because working with them would be all I could have asked for and even better because my approval came really quickly. And what I liked about Anahita and her team was they are pretty straightforward down to earth approach, very pragmatic. And that really felt to me, obviously she has amazing track record. I think she’s been in the business for over a decade and a hundred percent approval rate and she was just, she is rather, super experienced and still also very understanding because I think she’s just worked with so many clients from different backgrounds. So she basically that… Not only could I tell that they knew what they were doing, I also felt, I just felt comfortable basically working with them. So for me it was also appealing working with a boutique firm, I know different people have different preferences, priorities, but I ultimately wanted, I thought for me working with a small firm was better because I was more confident that they would dedicate the time to me. And this is really also, that was definitely also a big part of me. — Daria (Twin Lakes Rural)

Daria’s experience captures why some investors prefer boutique law firms: direct access, focused attention, and a sense that the people who sold you the service are the people doing the work. That preference also aligns with a broader principle EB5AN emphasizes: investors should feel empowered to hire an independent attorney and expect clear, direct communication, which is reflected in the EB-5 Investor Bill of Rights.

Starting the EB-5 Process With Confidence

For investors who want more real-world context before choosing their immigration counsel, EB5AN’s library of EB-5 investor testimonials shows how other investors approached attorney selection, what they prioritized, and how those choices played out during filing and approval.

We also invite you to schedule a free consultation with EB5AN.