An expert briefing on why set-aside visas go unused, and the administrative fix already in place on the consular side.
Since 2023, a large share of EB-5 visas set aside for rural, high-unemployment, and infrastructure investments has gone unused. Under the statute, unused set-aside visas can eventually be lost. At the same time, investors who qualify for both a reserved and an unreserved visa have no way to elect the category that would let their case move forward, even though the Department of State already permits that election at the consular stage.
This briefing brings together four people who have worked on the issue directly: the analyst who documented it, the attorney whose association has raised it with USCIS, the policy researcher who tracked the agency’s engagement, and the former State Department official who oversaw visa allocation.
Webinar Details
Format: On-demand webinar
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2026
Time: 12:00PM EST
Can’t attend on December 9? Register and we’ll send the recording.
What the panel covers
- How the reserved and unreserved categories work, and why set-aside visas go unused
- Why applicants adjusting status inside the United States cannot elect a category when consular applicants can
- The record of industry requests to USCIS on this issue, and the response to date
- How the visa office may respond, and what a two-way election process could change
Register to Watch
The Panel
Christine Chen, Chief Operating Officer, CanAm Enterprises (moderator)
Christine Chen is Chief Operating Officer of CanAm Enterprises, where she oversees operations across the firm’s EB-5 regional center business. She has followed the unreserved allocation issue closely for the better part of a year and convened this panel to bring the people closest to it into one conversation.
Joey Barnett, Partner, WR Immigration
Joey Barnett is a partner at WR Immigration, practicing exclusively in EB-5 and business immigration. He represents immigrant investors and advises developers and regional centers on the use of EB-5 capital, and currently serves on AILA’s EB-5 Committee and the IIUSA Editorial Board.
Suzanne Lazicki, Founder, Lucid Professional Writing
Suzanne Lazicki founded Lucid Professional Writing in 2010 and has since prepared hundreds of business plans for EB-5, E-2, and L-1A applications. She is widely read for the EB-5 data and policy analysis she publishes at blog.lucidtext.com, authored the EB-5 business plan chapter of AILA’s Immigration Options for Investors and Entrepreneurs, and serves on the IIUSA Public Policy Committee.
Lee Li, Director of Policy Research and Data Analytics, IIUSA
Lee Li joined IIUSA in 2015 and leads the association’s policy research and data analytics. He produces its reports on USCIS processing trends, EB-5 visa usage, and backlog forecasts, and manages the industry data dashboards relied on across EB-5 policy discussions.
Charlie Oppenheim, Director of Visa Consulting, WR Immigration
Charlie Oppenheim is Director of Visa Consulting at WR Immigration. For more than two decades at the U.S. Department of State, he served as Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division, administering the monthly allocation of immigrant visa numbers and authoring the Visa Bulletin until his retirement in 2021. AILA recognized him with its Founders Award in 2022.
