Introduction and Speaker Backgrounds
Peter Calabrese (00:00):
Hello, welcome. My name is Peter Calabrese. I am CEO of CanAm Investor Services, the FINRA-registered broker-dealer affiliate of CanAm Enterprises, one of the largest and certainly most successful regional centers in the history of the EB-5 program. I am very pleased to be joined today by two of the most influential people working in EB-5 for the Indian market: Rohit Turkhud, Member and Partner at CSG Law, and Vivek Tandon, Managing Director of Sequence Financial, doing business as Invest America. These two gentlemen have worked together with CanAm and with Indian investors for many years to help them achieve their immigration and investment goals. Vivek, please introduce yourself.
Vivek Tandon (00:56):
Thanks, Pete. My name is Vivek Tandon and I am a U.S.-based lawyer as well as an EB-5 financial professional. I am Managing Director at Sequence Financial, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer doing business as Invest America. Our primary role is to conduct due diligence across EB-5 offerings in the market, identify a curated list of projects worth presenting to investors, and then help those investors make fully informed decisions about where to invest, with the goals of capital preservation and successfully obtaining their conditional and then permanent green cards.
Rohit Turkhud (01:39):
Thank you, Pete. An absolute pleasure to be here with both of you. My name is Rohit Turkhud and I am a Member and Partner at CSG Law, headquartered in New Jersey, the largest full-service law firm in the state with over 210 attorneys. I am part of the immigration group, based in New York City, and I have had the privilege of working with Vivek and Pete for over 11 years in the EB-5 space. My principal focus is investors born in India. I speak three Indian languages, which is always helpful. My role is strictly immigration. I do not give financial advice. I leave that to qualified professionals like Vivek and Pete.
Why Indian Investors Feel Urgency
Peter Calabrese (02:53):
We see a tremendous amount of urgency in the current market, and it is entirely understandable. By the time investors reach us, they have usually already decided that EB-5 is their pathway. They want to move as quickly as possible. But urgency can sometimes lead to skipping steps or making decisions that are not in their best interest on an investment that is deeply tied to both their finances and their immigration status. Vivek, what are you seeing in terms of how investors are approaching this, and how do you help guide them?
Vivek Tandon (05:09):
We run an education platform called EB-5 Rex where investors can do initial self-education on what EB-5 is and what it is not. Once they reach out to us, my team has a preliminary conversation to orient them on the basics, and then I schedule a call to go deeper, particularly on the investment side. EB-5 is likely one of the largest investments a person will make in their lifetime, comparable to buying a primary residence. They need all the relevant information to make a fully informed, sound decision. Having spent a dozen years in the industry and reviewed so many projects across rural, high unemployment area, and infrastructure categories, we position ourselves as a fact-checker. There is a lot of conflicting information out there. Our job is to cut through that and guide investors toward the right professionals, and ultimately the right project.
Peter Calabrese (07:38):
You serve as an EB-5 translator of sorts, helping investors decode the marketing and the product discussions. And I will say: the first thing I tell every person who comes to us is, have you retained an immigration attorney and have you started working on your source of funds? Because if EB-5 is your pathway, that is the most important work to begin immediately. It determines whether you can do this at all, whether you can do it in a timely manner, and it will be the same documentation regardless of which project you ultimately choose.
Rohit Turkhud (09:35):
To summarize the urgency: most professionals born in India, regardless of their citizenship today, face potentially decades waiting for a green card through normal employment-based channels. EB-5 offers a materially shorter path, especially when concurrent adjustment of status filing is available. The urgency is real. But it has to be balanced against doing the work correctly. Source of funds and path of funds documentation consistently take longer than selecting a regional center or project.
Understanding the Visa Bulletin for Indian Investors
Peter Calabrese (11:29):
The visa bulletin, published monthly by the Department of State, tells investors whether a visa number is currently available to them. For Indian investors, this has been one of the most consequential variables. Even though the unreserved EB-5 category carries a final action date for China and India, the three reserved set-aside categories, rural, high unemployment area, and infrastructure, currently show as current. That current status enables concurrent filing of an I-485 adjustment of status. Every investor needs to understand that this window is likely to close. Retrogression in the reserved categories for India is widely expected, even though the timing remains uncertain. Rohit, how do you walk clients through reading the visa bulletin?
Rohit Turkhud (13:31):
There are two charts in every visa bulletin that matter. The first is the final action date chart, which determines when USCIS will actually grant the green card. The second is the filing date chart, which determines when you can file the adjustment of status application. Even if there is a retrogression in the final action date, you may still be able to file the I-485 if the filing date chart allows it. Filing the adjustment of status is what matters most in the near term: it gives you the right to remain in the United States, to obtain an Employment Authorization Document, and to receive advance parole for travel. Once filed, those protections follow you even if the final action date subsequently retrogresses. I would say retrogression for India in the reserved categories is imminent. We simply do not know exactly when. That is why filing promptly is critical. I also want to caution against shortcuts. Urgency does not justify submitting an application that has not been prepared properly. You need a petition that will at minimum pass initial scrutiny, without RFEs if at all possible.
Final Action Date vs. Filing Date: A Key Distinction
Rohit Turkhud (16:41):
The reserved categories are divided as follows: 20% of the annual EB-5 visa allocation goes to rural projects, 10% to high unemployment area projects, and 2% to infrastructure projects. Any unused numbers flow down to the unreserved category. The unreserved category has already backlogged for India and China, but it has also shown significant recent movement, advancing nearly a year between the January and February 2026 bulletins. Those dates can move forward, but they can also roll back. Investors should monitor both the final action date and the filing date charts and discuss with their attorney what each means for their specific situation.
Peter Calabrese (18:20):
The key word here is patience. Understand how the process works, plan accordingly, and know that the timeline will be longer than you would prefer. The good news is that the reserved categories remain current, concurrent filing is still available, and the Employment Authorization Document and advance parole remain within reach for those who file now.
Rural vs. High Unemployment Area: Choosing the Right Project Category
Peter Calabrese (19:26):
When investors hear about the visa bulletin and the reserved categories, many initially decide they will only consider rural projects because rural carries priority processing. That approach is becoming more nuanced. We are also seeing growing interest in high unemployment area projects and, as we bring infrastructure projects to market, in that category as well. Vivek, how do you counsel investors on this decision?
Vivek Tandon (20:14):
There was a time when investors had three to six months to make an EB-5 decision. We no longer have that luxury because the visa bulletin changes monthly and retrogression could come at any point. As we approach the September 30, 2026 end of fiscal year, the likelihood of India and China going into retrogression for both rural and high unemployment area categories increases significantly. That reality should make investors more diligent, not less, because they have less time to evaluate projects carefully. On the rural versus high unemployment area question: rural projects have only a three to four year history in EB-5. High unemployment area projects have a dozen or more years of track record, more data points, more comparable results. Rural projects are not inherently riskier, but there are fewer comparables available. I counsel investors not to box themselves into a single category. Identify a top three to five investment options across categories and then evaluate which is most suitable based on your own risk tolerance, liquidity preference, and confidence in the regional center’s track record. The regional center matters more than the category. Who has underwritten this? What is their history? What does their portfolio look like? Start there, then evaluate the specific project, the developer, and the underlying asset class.
Rohit Turkhud (25:09):
I want to add a few things to what Vivek said. First: CanAm has consistently encouraged investors to visit projects, and that is good practice with any regional center. Seeing a project firsthand matters. Second: there is often a gap, sometimes a substantial one, between getting the I-526E approved and receiving the actual green card. That gap is affected by many variables: visa bulletin movements, consulate backlogs, staffing at USCIS, and more. Investors who assume they will have a green card within six months of filing should have that conversation directly with their immigration attorney. Third: on the question of safety, I always tell investors to think about two things. Safety of getting the green card, which depends primarily on job creation, and safety of return of capital. Both matter. The word “guarantee” does not exist in EB-5, but at a minimum you should understand the likelihood of each.
EAD Policy Changes: Reduced Validity and Loss of Automatic Extension
Peter Calabrese (29:50):
There have been meaningful changes to the Employment Authorization Document in the past year that every investor considering concurrent filing needs to understand. Rohit, can you walk through those changes?
Rohit Turkhud (30:04):
Two significant changes have taken place. First, the administration reduced EAD validity from five years to 18 months, citing the need for continued security vetting. That alone is a major change, because you no longer have five years of work authorization from a single card. Second, and I would argue equally or more impactful: the administration terminated the automatic extension of EAD upon timely filing for renewal. Previously, when you filed for an EAD renewal before your current card expired, you automatically received a 540-day extension of work authorization while the renewal was processed. EADs were typically processed within three to four months, well within that window. That automatic buffer no longer exists. The combination of an 18-month validity and no automatic extension creates real gaps in work authorization that investors need to plan for. On advance parole: as of now, there has been no formal guidance reducing advance parole validity from five years to 18 months, but I would not rule it out. If the administration issues a combination EAD and advance parole card with a single end date, both would effectively expire at 18 months. Plan conservatively.
Peter Calabrese (34:15):
That is an important planning consideration for anyone receiving an EAD and expecting it to provide multi-year stability. The landscape may continue to evolve. That said, the act of filing the adjustment of status itself confers the right to remain in the United States until the I-485 is adjudicated, regardless of the EAD status. That protection remains intact.
Rohit Turkhud (34:46):
Correct. Even if your EAD expires and you are unable to renew it immediately, the filed I-485 gives you the legal right to remain in the United States until adjudication. That is a distinct and important protection. My general posture with clients right now is: there is a lot we do not know. I would rather be transparent about uncertainty than provide false confidence. Much of what investors read online is shared with good intentions but is not always accurate. Work with professionals who will tell you when they do not know something.
Who Is Investing: Two Investor Profiles
Peter Calabrese (35:45)
The profile of Indian investors coming to EB-5 has been shifting. Vivek, can you describe what you are seeing in terms of which investor groups are actively moving forward?
Vivek Tandon (37:25):
I see two primary groups. The first is the F-1 student crowd, typically ages 18 to 25, studying in the U.S. for a bachelor’s or master’s degree, where parents overseas are considering making an EB-5 investment on their child’s behalf to secure permanent residency upon graduation. That group used to represent a significant share of EB-5 activity. Given the current environment in the U.S., many overseas parents are taking a wait-and-see approach. The students are here, doing their internships, relying on OPT after graduation, but families are being more cautious about committing. The second and currently more active group is the established H-1B professional. These are individuals who have been in the United States for five, ten, sometimes fifteen years. They are married, they may have U.S. citizen children, they own homes, they have built their lives here. The missing piece is permanency. They are stuck in the EB-2 or EB-3 queue, which could be twenty, thirty, or fifty years long. They have earned well, accumulated RSUs, and can now afford and have decided to make the EB-5 investment. For them, the motivation is straightforward: they cannot afford to be employer-dependent any longer. An EB-5 investment means they can negotiate from a position of strength, change jobs freely, and ultimately transition from temporary to permanent to citizen.
Rohit Turkhud (40:14):
The H-1B community is motivated by job insecurity, the $100,000 H-1B fee, consular uncertainty, and the broader fragility of non-immigrant status. Many of them have RSUs and ESOPs that have appreciated substantially, giving them the financial capacity to make this investment. And the U.S. remains the world’s most powerful magnet for talent and capital. That is not changing.
The September 30, 2026 Grandfathering Deadline
Rohit Turkhud (42:37):
The single most important deadline motivating investors right now is September 30, 2026. The EB-5 program as it exists today is authorized through September 2027. However, September 30, 2026 is the grandfathering date. Any I-526E petition filed on or before that date is protected. That means USCIS must adjudicate it under the current rules, regardless of what Congress does with the program after that date. Investors who file before September 30, 2026 are protected. We do not know what happens to petitions filed after October 1, 2026, whether the law gets extended again and on what terms, or what happens between October 1, 2026 and the current authorization end date of September 30, 2027. And this deadline does not mean hire an attorney on September 29th. The application needs to be filed and ready. Allow adequate time for preparation.
Peter Calabrese (43:36):
Waiting also has a real cost beyond program uncertainty. Every investor who files today places themselves ahead of someone who files tomorrow. The longer you wait, the further back you are in line, and the longer your overall timeline to permanent residency.
Source of Funds: The Most Time-Consuming Step
Peter Calabrese (48:31):
One of the most common mismatches we see is between an investor’s sense of urgency and the realistic timeline for preparing a proper source of funds package. How do you manage that tension, Rohit?
Rohit Turkhud (49:29):
I have yet to meet an investor who does not tell me their source of funds is “super clean and super easy.” Getting past that initial confidence, I walk them through exactly what needs to be provided and documented. The honest timeline is one to three months for a properly prepared application, though two to three weeks is possible under ideal circumstances. I also want to address a nuance: if you need to file quickly to capture a current visa bulletin, you can file a good-faith I-526E application and supplement the source of funds documentation after filing. However, immigration does not look favorably on material changes to the stated source of funds. If you say the money is coming from sources A, B, and C, it needs to come from those sources. Switching sources after filing creates serious problems, potentially including denial on the basis that the application was not approvable when filed. Work with your attorney to identify the correct sources at the outset, even if full documentation takes a few weeks to compile.
Peter Calabrese (51:37):
Being careful and doing this correctly is paramount. USCIS has become more rigorous in its adjudications over the past year. Things that may have been approved twelve months ago are now receiving requests for evidence or outright denials. Loan-based funding structures are receiving increased scrutiny. Funds sourced through less conventional pathways are being examined more closely. Trying to shortcut the petition preparation process does not save time. It creates delays and risks that will take far longer to resolve.
Vivek Tandon (53:07):
The decision-making timeline is now driven by the monthly visa bulletin. As of the recording of this session, India is current through February 28, 2026. For anyone looking to file concurrently while India remains current, the window to complete source of funds preparation and project selection is measured in weeks, not months. Work with the right professionals, move deliberately, and choose from the proven, established options in the market.
The Gold Card Program: What We Know
Peter Calabrese (54:18):
The Gold Card program has come up in conversations enough that it is worth addressing directly. Rohit, what do we actually know about it?
Rohit Turkhud (55:12):
There are more questions than answers. What we know: the Gold Card involves a donation, not a refundable investment. One million dollars per individual, possibly more depending on the tier. It does not appear to cover a family unit the way EB-5 does. There is a $15,000 filing fee. The mechanism for accessing visa numbers is unclear: it appears to draw from EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories, which already carry final action dates for Indian nationals. How pulling numbers from those categories resolves the backlog problem for Indian investors is not explained. The form being used, Form I-140G, is new and its legal standing under existing immigration law has not been fully tested. The program was passed by directive, not legislation in the traditional sense. I have many questions and very few confident answers.
Peter Calabrese (57:37):
The investor profile for the Gold Card is entirely different from EB-5. EB-5 involves an $800,000 at-risk investment that is returned to you upon successful project completion, covering you, your spouse, and children under 21. The Gold Card involves an irrecoverable $1 million donation per individual. The person who can simply donate $1 million per family member without expectation of return is a different investor entirely. EB-5 remains the established, legislated, proven framework with decades of successful outcomes.
Vivek Tandon (59:17):
The few people I have spoken to who are genuinely considering the Gold Card tend to be ultra-high-net-worth tech entrepreneurs with specific motivations. Most EB-5 investors, after hearing the terms, quickly recognize that the Gold Card is not the right vehicle for them. There are too many unknowns and the financial terms are fundamentally different.
Closing Remarks
Peter Calabrese (01:01:27):
We have covered a great deal of ground today. Vivek, Rohit, any final thoughts for our audience?
Rohit Turkhud (01:01:43):
EB-5 is a viable, credible, and sensible option for Indian investors who would otherwise be waiting decades in the EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 queues. There is no perfect project. That is why guidance from professionals like Vivek, who has spent over a decade reviewing projects and conducting due diligence, is genuinely valuable. EB-5 is still the best option available for this audience. And CanAm, having repaid over $2.5 billion to investors, is certainly among the strongest regional centers in the industry.
Vivek Tandon (01:04:22):
At the end of the day, this is your capital, your risk, your green card, your benefit. Everything revolves around the investor. People like Pete, Rohit, and myself are vehicles to help you reach your destination, which is securing permanent residency and preserving your capital. Think this through carefully, make the decision as a family, and work with professionals who will give you the whole picture.
Peter Calabrese (01:04:52):
This is a great program for people who are looking to achieve their full immigration goals and receive repayment of their capital. The landscape continues to evolve, which is why proper education remains paramount. We are grateful to Vivek and Rohit for taking their time today to share this information, and we look forward to continuing these conversations.
