A new USCIS policy memo is creating significant uncertainty in the EB-5 community. In this panel, leading EB-5 attorneys will carefully examine what the memo says, what it doesn’t say, and what it may mean for investors who planned to adjust their status from inside the U.S. Panelists will address the potential impact on concurrent filers, F-1 students, and investors in non-dual-intent visa categories, outline what legal protections exist under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and offer general guidance on questions investors should be discussing with their own counsel.
Webinar date: June 5 at 9 a.m. PST
Panelist:
- Braxton Bartlett of EB5LA
- James Shih of SMS Law Firm
- Joey Barnett of WR Immigration
Bios
Braxton Bartlett is a former collegiate and professional basketball player turned real-estate investor, developer, and operator. He founded Paladin Capital, a development and management fund focused on residential assets with over 30 million in assets under management. He serves as managing partner of The Bartlett & Waskas Group, a growing commercial real-estate fund. A recent addition to EB5 Lending Alliance Sales team, Bartlett brings practical, on-the-ground real-estate experience to the EB-5 arena. His style pairs disciplined underwriting and crisp execution with brand-conscious operations—powered by a competitor’s drive and a team-first mindset shaped by high-level athletics. Bartlett concentrates on resilient, cash-flowing properties and long-term partnerships with lenders, operators, and investors both domestically and abroad. Across both residential and commercial projects. For the EB5 world he works in deal analysis, sales, and overall project fluidity.
James Shih has spent more than 15 years at SMS Law Firm tailoring EB-5 cases from first consultation through approval. His practice reflects hundreds of successful EB-5 investor journeys into 160+ projects and 30+ regional centers with documented repayment alongside permanent residence for his clients. Starting with a client’s life and priorities, not a one-size-fits-all playbook, James designs the strongest path for each client and has worked with cutting-edge and sophisticated source offunds cases from foreign exchange and old records to cryptocurrency. James emphasizes communication and transparency, early identification of documentation gaps, candid assessment of risk, and steady guidance as matters progress.James has a special focus on Indian professionals on H-1B and other nonimmigrant classifications who pursue EB-5 through concurrent filing, coordinating visa compliance, petition timing, and family considerations. James practice also focuses on employment-based andbusiness visa applications, including extraordinary ability and business/investor classifications. As head of SMS Law Firm’s global expansions, his clients span 32 different countries with a particular focus on Indian, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese investors.
Joey Barnett is a partner at WR Immigration and a member of its EB-5 and business immigration practices. He is licensed as an attorney in Illinois, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, and practices exclusively in immigration and nationality law.
Barnett has extensive experience representing immigrant investors seeking permanent residency in the United States through USCIS-designated Regional Centers and investment in their own businesses. Mr. Barnett also counsels U.S. businesses and developers in creating, managing, and using Regional Centers for the receipt of EB-5 capital to create jobs for U.S. workers.
He currently serves on the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) EB-5 Committee and is a member of the IIUSA Editorial Board. He is a former member of AILA’s Benefits Litigation Committee. Mr. Barnett was selected by industry peers as a Top 5 Rising Star in EB-5 in 2019 and was also selected for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. He earned recognition from EB-5 Magazine as a Top 25 Immigration Attorney for three consecutive years, from 2023–2025.
Barnett’s practice includes the representation of foreign nationals under other employment-based green card categories, such as executive and managerial transferees in multinational companies as well as researchers, professors, medical professionals, engineers, musicians and artists, media and public relations professionals, and others with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.
Barnett is also responsible for a variety of other immigration matters, including temporary work visas (B-1, E-2, H-1B, L-1, O-1, P-1), F-1 reinstatements, administrative appeals, and federal writ of mandamus lawsuits and APA actions against the U.S. government.