00:00 Welcome & Program Disclaimers
[00:00] Peter Calabrese: Hello, and welcome. Thank you for joining us. My name is Peter Calabrese, and I’m CEO of CanAm Investor Services, the FINRA-registered broker-dealer affiliate of CanAm Enterprises, one of the largest and most successful regional centers in the EB-5 program. We have the pleasure of being joined again today by our friends Joey Barnett and Charlie Oppenheim. Joey is a partner at WR Immigration, and Charlie is the firm’s Director of Visa Consulting. If you don’t know Joey and Charlie yet, you clearly haven’t been watching enough of their content, because it’s fantastic. They’re great industry experts, and we’re very appreciative to have them join us. Joey, Charlie, thank you.
[00:47] Joey Barnett: Thanks so much. It’s an honor to be here. We’re immigration attorneys at WR Immigration, and we love working with CanAm — we’ve worked with them for decades. They’re a gold standard in EB-5, and we really appreciate this conversation. As we discussed during prep, we feel almost an ethical obligation to explain what people are getting into when they’re investing this much money, so I’m glad CanAm is having this conversation.
[01:21] Peter Calabrese: Likewise, thank you both so much. Before we jump in, we always want to remind everyone that this webinar contains great information, but it’s for informational purposes only. It doesn’t constitute legal advice or a legal opinion, and it isn’t an offer to sell securities. For anyone joining us, please visit our website to learn more about CanAm. We’ve been operating immigration-linked business investments for close to 40 years, and we’ve worked exclusively in the EB-5 program for over 24 years. We have a strong long-term track record in the program, which you can review in more detail on our website or by reaching out to us directly.
02:23 Meet the Panel: WR Immigration’s EB-5 Team
[02:23] Peter Calabrese: Here’s a bit of information about WR. Joey, Charlie, would you like to elaborate on your firm and the professionals who work alongside you?
[02:35] Joey Barnett: Yes. We’re a full-service U.S. immigration law firm. We also handle global immigration, but historically we’ve focused on U.S.-based immigration, and we really do it all. We’ve done a significant amount of EB-5 work over the past twenty-five to thirty years. Our firm files thousands of I-526E petitions, and we’ve helped thousands of families from all over the world get their conditional green cards, remove those conditions, and obtain their full permanent green cards. We have a large team, including fifteen people with more than ten years of EB-5 experience, plus additional colleagues who support that work. It’s been a busy stretch, and we expect to stay busy through the end of the summer as we get closer to the September 30 grandfathering deadline.
03:33 Setting the Stage: Key EB-5 Deadlines Ahead
[03:33] Peter Calabrese: I agree, and I think that’s a good setup for our conversation, because the Visa Bulletin and the current availability of visas is a big part of why we’re all going to stay busy. We’ve remained busy alongside some important deadlines, including the grandfathering provisions in place through September 2026. The program itself is authorized through September 2027, and there’s also a potential investment amount increase coming January 1, tied to an inflation-indexed adjustment. There’s a lot happening, and it’s bringing a lot of interest from investors.
[04:23] Peter Calabrese: Joey, maybe you could kick us off with some of the broad themes we’ve seen in July’s Visa Bulletin. I’ll also note that, due to scheduling, we’re filming this on July 8, so if anything has evolved by the time you’re watching this, please keep that in mind.
05:11 Inside the July 2026 Visa Bulletin: Reserved Categories
[05:11] Joey Barnett: Sure. The Visa Bulletin is released every month by the Department of State. Charlie used to work there — he was the person who wrote the Visa Bulletin for 23 years, which is why his insight is so valuable. What we’re focusing on today are the bottom four rows relating to the EB-5 category. There are three reserved, or set-aside, categories that have remained current since their creation in 2022: rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure. Being current means investors in the United States can file an adjustment of status at the same time they file their EB-5 petition, because a visa is available today. That’s what we’re all watching for each month — whether the bulletin remains current, allowing people to keep filing concurrently.
[06:21] Joey Barnett: At some point, we believe final action dates will be imposed in these categories. When that happens, investors in certain categories and countries will lose the ability to file adjustment of status concurrently with their I-526E. There’s also the unreserved category, for people who filed before the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) took effect in 2022. About 68% of all EB-5 visa numbers fall into that unreserved bucket, and those numbers are also available to people in the reserved categories — which becomes especially relevant for Indian nationals as their priority dates approach current status.
[07:35] Joey Barnett: The most important thing we always tell people is that just because a visa is available today when you file your I-526E doesn’t mean a visa will still be available when that petition is approved, whether that’s in six, twelve, or twenty-four months. If a final action date exists at that point and it falls after your priority date, you’re in the backlog, because USCIS can’t act on your adjustment of status application, and consulates won’t schedule your interview until your priority date is current. That’s the invisible backlog we’ve discussed for a few years now, and eventually there will be a reckoning.
[08:41] Joey Barnett: Charlie, we’ve been saying final action dates could be coming for over a year, and here we are, still current this summer. People are starting to feel like we’re crying wolf. If we know there have been more than 4,000 I-526E approvals in these categories, why haven’t we seen final action dates yet?
09:28 Why Final Action Dates Haven’t Hit Yet
[09:28] Charlie Oppenheim: The final action dates listed in each bulletin are based on the best information the State Department has at the time. State looks at past number use and expected number use for the rest of the fiscal year to determine whether there are sufficient numbers under the annual limit. If there are enough numbers for everyone to be processed, they’ll leave the category current. Once they determine more numbers are being used than the annual limit allows, they’ll impose a final action date.
[10:00] Charlie Oppenheim: So the fact that all three categories remain current right now is largely an artificial situation, at least in the rural and high unemployment categories, because USCIS hasn’t been approving large numbers of petitions. Thousands of numbers have gone unused each year, which means that whenever a final action date is eventually established, it will likely be much earlier than it would have needed to be had USCIS been processing at a more typical rate.
10:52 Concurrent Filing Mechanics: I-526E and I-485
[10:52] Joey Barnett: To make sure everyone understands: once your I-526E is approved, that doesn’t hand you the conditional green card. It’s the underlying basis on which you can apply for the conditional green card. When you file the adjustment of status concurrently, you file both at the same time, but USCIS has to approve the I-526E first before it can approve the I-485, and it can only approve the I-485 once your priority date is current.
[11:27] Joey Barnett: There’s also a kind of government inertia, or artificial current status, as Charlie described, and people are taking advantage of it. We know there’s a group of cases that will get green cards ahead of people filing today, and we know there’s a line. But that doesn’t stop people from taking advantage of the opportunity today and building a backup plan in case something changes with their nonimmigrant status in the near term. That’s why so many people are moving now, and why everyone in EB-5 is so busy.
[12:19] Peter Calabrese: Opportunity is a great way to put it. We’ve all started to feel like the boy who cried wolf, because we’ve talked about final action dates coming “at some point” for a while now. It’s not because the numbers aren’t there — there’s certainly no lack of demand, which is exactly why these categories have remained current. It’s a lack of actual processing of the numbers. Even though that will eventually affect retrogression, it’s also, as you said, an opportunity for people to act now. This same situation has been in place for roughly a year, and those who can still file concurrently on the basis of a current underlying category get real, valuable benefits that make the investment more feasible, especially for U.S.-based investors looking for stability while they remain in the country.
13:57 The India Unreserved Category Footnote
[13:57] Peter Calabrese: Let’s shift to one of the footnotes in this bulletin, specifically around unreserved numbers from India.
[14:16] Charlie Oppenheim: The State Department will typically give one to two months’ advance warning if it sees adverse action coming that will affect applicants. They did that with the India employment-based fifth preference unreserved category, warning that it could become unavailable, which it did for the month of July. This wasn’t totally unexpected — they had advanced the India fifth preference date dramatically back in January and held it there since. This is actually a good sign, because it means 100% of the available Indian numbers were used, which is the overall goal. The India unreserved category will reopen effective October 1 under the fiscal year 2027 annual limit.
[15:24] Joey Barnett: My take is that this is great news, because it means everyone from before the RIA is getting their conditional green cards, which will open that bucket of visa numbers to people in the reserved categories. Chart B for India unreserved now goes out through roughly May 2024, which signals that even people who filed after the RIA may be able to use these visa numbers within the next ten to twelve months or so. That’s very positive news. The goal is always maximum visa use — it’s not great if you’re the person waiting until October for the category to reopen, but for the EB-5 program overall, this is a good outcome.
[17:45] Charlie Oppenheim: In terms of India fifth preference unreserved, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it listed as current early in fiscal year 2027.
18:01 Choosing Between Reserved and Unreserved Visa Numbers
[18:01] Joey Barnett: For more context: when you file in a reserved EB-5 category and your case is approved, your approval notice actually covers both the unreserved and the reserved category, and you choose which one to use for processing. Right now, since the reserved categories are current, most people have been using their reserved visas. But if final action dates eventually hit the reserved categories while the unreserved category remains current, that gives people the option to use unreserved numbers and get their conditional green card faster.
[19:35] Joey Barnett: Similarly, for people not born in China or India, if final action dates hit the rest-of-world allocations in high unemployment or rural — which have small annual limits — those applicants could still choose the unreserved rest-of-world category, which has remained current, to be processed more quickly. That means there’s less backlog risk for rest-of-world applicants than for India and especially China. If you’re abroad going through the National Visa Center and consular process, it’s straightforward to elect unreserved processing. For people in the U.S. doing adjustment of status, that process is a bit more opaque right now, because USCIS hasn’t needed to activate it while the reserved categories remain current. At some point, USCIS will need to get ahead of this so all EB-5 visa numbers can be fully used.
20:15 Annual Visa Limits and the RIA’s Carryover Provision
[20:15] Peter Calabrese: Let’s shift to the employment-based visa cap calculations and the annual EB-5 limit for fiscal year 2026.
[20:55] Joey Barnett: Final action dates only get imposed once demand exceeds supply, and the overall employment-based supply is the 186,000 figure on this slide — higher than originally expected. Because there’s a larger supply, more visa numbers need to be used before a final action date would be required.
[21:25] Charlie Oppenheim: That’s exactly right — it’s simply supply and demand. There isn’t enough demand yet in the reserved categories to require final action dates, and they’ll remain current until number use in the earlier months of the fiscal year, combined with projected use in the coming months, requires a date to keep total use within the annual limits. Everything should remain current for the rest of this fiscal year, and I expect fiscal year 2027 to start out current across all three categories as well, with final action dates likely at some point during fiscal 2027 as more approved petitions become available.
[22:22] Charlie Oppenheim: There’s also a carryover provision under the RIA: unused reserved visa numbers from the prior fiscal year carry over for use in the current year. That’s why there are more than 7,000 reserved visa numbers available for use in fiscal year 2026, and we really need to see those get used. We received a batch of consular appointment notices from the National Visa Center and the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou recently, but all of them were for pre-RIA investors, none for post-RIA cases.
[23:18] Charlie Oppenheim: There are still roughly 12,000 unreserved visa numbers working through people who filed back in 2015 and have been waiting for their priority dates to become current, and that appears to be where consular capacity, at least in Guangzhou, is currently focused.
23:56 The Risk of Visa Waste
[23:56] Peter Calabrese: This brings us to a less enjoyable but important topic — the risk of visa waste.
[24:30] Charlie Oppenheim: Just as unused numbers from last year carried into this year, unused numbers from 2024 that weren’t used in 2025 flowed into the unreserved category, and those are lost to the reserved categories. The question is whether that happens again this fiscal year, and based on historical trends, it looks like we will see some reserved visas lost again.
[25:39] Joey Barnett: If those numbers move into the unreserved category, does that push out the priority dates further, or not?
[25:43] Charlie Oppenheim: That carryover into unreserved is actually what has allowed the pre-RIA India unreserved waiting list to be essentially eliminated. We don’t have published State Department data on the exact waiting list, but based on the latest information available, that backlog for pre-RIA cases is essentially gone, which is why I expect India unreserved to be listed as current for at least a period at the start of fiscal 2027. So it’s been a benefit to the unreserved categories, even though it’s a real loss to the reserved side — and unfortunately, the outcome depends somewhat on an applicant’s country of birth, which is simply how the law is written.
[26:58] Peter Calabrese: It’s a bit of a ping-pong effect between the categories. It’s frustrating to see reserved visas go unused, but if they’re at least cycling back into the unreserved category, that’s an added benefit for people who’ve been waiting a long time, as we’ve seen with India. It also makes things harder to predict, given how much movement happens between categories.
[28:04] Joey Barnett: It’s genuinely difficult to predict when someone filing today will get their conditional green card, because there are so many unknowns. It’s also possible Congress could adjust the regional center program allocation when it reauthorizes, or change how the RIA’s carryover provisions work. Any of that could significantly affect wait times.
[28:46] Charlie Oppenheim: The good news is that the carryover of unused numbers into the fiscal 2027 unreserved category, available to both rest-of-world and Indian applicants who opt in, could meaningfully reduce future reserved backlogs. I expect the fiscal 2027 unreserved limit to be the highest it will be for the next several years, since there shouldn’t be much more carryover flowing into that category after this. Number use really needs to be maximized in unreserved again during fiscal 2027.
29:28 Visualizing Visa Flow and Carryover
[29:28] Charlie Oppenheim: This chart visualizes the carryover we’ve been discussing. When numbers go unused, they get added to either the reserved or unreserved carryover for the following year. The more numbers that get used, the less carryover there is, which is what we want, because it means more people are receiving their green cards. This carryover provision is unique to the EB-5 category — you don’t see it in any other family-sponsored or employment-based visa category. It was one of the real benefits of the RIA legislation.
30:43 Filings vs. Adjudications: Where Demand Really Sits
[30:43] Peter Calabrese: This is where we get into the reasoning behind potential visa waste — comparing actual adjudications to petition filings.
[31:29] Charlie Oppenheim: These figures represent filings only, not individuals — they don’t include any derivative spouse or child who would also need a visa number, so actual demand could be significantly higher. This is the demand in the pipeline; the earlier slides showed supply. There’s more demand than supply, which is why we expect final action dates eventually. This data is current as of the end of fiscal year 2025, so it’s about ten months old at this point, and there have been plenty more filings since.
32:47 July’s Final Push: What to Watch This Fiscal Quarter
[32:47] Peter Calabrese: Let’s talk about what could happen over the rest of this month, and why July is such a critical window for allocating these numbers.
[33:10] Charlie Oppenheim: July marks the final quarter of the fiscal year, which is typically the final big push to use numbers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see adjustments in the dates for employment categories one through five outside of the reserved categories, which will stay current. We could see forward movement in China’s unreserved fifth preference. India fifth preference unreserved will stay unavailable through the rest of the summer, but the State Department should start signaling what it plans for fiscal year 2027, likely not publishing those chart B filing dates until the October bulletin. Everyone should watch the August and September bulletins for any advance notes on what’s coming.
[34:15] Charlie Oppenheim: In the meantime, everyone should take advantage of the opportunity in July, August, and September, and act in a timely way rather than delaying. When I was at the State Department, we regularly saw people reschedule appointments for convenience, only to find numbers were no longer available when they finally held the appointment. Act while you can, and take advantage of the concurrent filing benefit.
[35:01] Peter Calabrese: Is there generally a pattern of pushing to adjudicate more cases in that final quarter of the fiscal year?
[35:06] Charlie Oppenheim: Typically, the goal is to maximize number use during the first nine months so there’s no need for a big push at the end. But if earlier estimates of number use turn out to be higher than actual use, dates sometimes have to move out, and we’ve seen that in a few categories, including June and July. China’s unreserved fifth preference date moved out significantly, to December 1, which has allowed Guangzhou to schedule many more appointments in an effort to maximize number use.
36:15 Charlie’s Predictions: Rural, High Unemployment & AOS Delays
[36:15] Peter Calabrese: This is always my favorite part of the conversation — Charlie, you’re quite literally the expert here. What do you take away from this bulletin?
[36:21] Charlie Oppenheim: As mentioned, State should give one to two months’ advance notice of anything detrimental. USCIS has been prioritizing approval of rural petitions, and because of that higher approval rate, rural will likely see the first final action date, even with its higher 20% annual allocation. High unemployment, even though filings are excessive relative to approvals, isn’t being approved at a rate that would require a final action date anytime soon — I wouldn’t expect anything there until maybe the second half or summer of fiscal 2027.
[37:19] Joey Barnett: There really isn’t a reliable timeline for how long after I-526E approval someone can expect their I-485 to be adjudicated. Over the last month and a half or so, following the new adjustment of status policy, we’ve seen a real drop-off in the issuance of conditional green cards. They’re still trickling in, but it’s not uncommon for someone whose I-526E was approved sometime in 2025 to still be waiting on their adjustment approval. Historically, USCIS hasn’t scheduled interviews for EB-5 adjustment of status applicants, and we don’t yet know if that will change under the new policy memo. All of that continues to limit the issuance and use of numbers, and until that changes, the Visa Bulletin will stay current.
40:22 Final Takeaways: Act Before September 30
[40:22] Joey Barnett: My only additional thought is that we didn’t see a footnote in the July bulletin about August, so I’m not expecting final action dates when the August bulletin comes out later this month. There’s still time to file before the September 30 grandfathering deadline and before any final action date takes effect. If this is something you’re considering, now is the time to get off the couch and make a move.
[40:52] Charlie Oppenheim: And as Joey mentioned, the concurrent filing benefits largely persist even once final action dates are established — you still retain many of those benefits, even if your case ends up delayed in processing for several years. Concurrent filing is an extremely valuable feature of the RIA program.
[41:21] Peter Calabrese: Absolutely. If you’re looking to take advantage of the grandfathering provisions, or to invest before the investment amount increases, now is the time to retain counsel and start documenting your source of funds. These aren’t simple calculations, and they take time, so it’s important to do them well and do them right. Gentlemen, Joey, Charlie, it’s a pleasure as always. Thank you so much for your time and your insights. We appreciate it, and we look forward to speaking with you again soon.
[42:16] Joey Barnett: Thank you. Take care.
Episode Chapters with Timestamps
00:00 Welcome & Program Disclaimers
02:23 Meet the Panel: WR Immigration’s EB-5 Team
03:33 Setting the Stage: Key EB-5 Deadlines Ahead
05:11 Inside the July 2026 Visa Bulletin: Reserved Categories
09:28 Why Final Action Dates Haven’t Hit Yet
10:52 Concurrent Filing Mechanics: I-526E and I-485
13:57 The India Unreserved Category Footnote
18:01 Choosing Between Reserved and Unreserved Visa Numbers
20:15 Annual Visa Limits and the RIA’s Carryover Provision
23:56 The Risk of Visa Waste
29:28 Visualizing Visa Flow and Carryover
30:43 Filings vs. Adjudications: Where Demand Really Sits
32:47 July’s Final Push: What to Watch This Fiscal Quarter
36:15 Charlie’s Predictions: Rural, High Unemployment & AOS Delays
40:22 Final Takeaways: Act Before September 30
Speaker Bios
Peter Calabrese
Chief Executive Officer, CanAm Investor Services, LLC
Peter Calabrese is the Chief Executive Officer of CanAm Investor Services, LLC, the FINRA-registered broker-dealer affiliate of CanAm Enterprises. He runs the firm’s U.S. division, which is responsible for the sale of private placement funds to domestic-based foreign investors. Calabrese first joined CanAm Investor Services in 2015 and previously served as the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer before being named CEO in 2021. Prior to joining CanAm, he spent more than fifteen years in institutional sales and trading with a focus on equity derivatives and volatility products at firms including ICAP and WallachBeth Capital, working with a diverse client base of buy- and sell-side traders, structured products desks, and liquidity providers. Calabrese holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from Brown University and carries FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, and 66 licenses.
Joey Barnett
Partner, WR Immigration
Joey Barnett is a Partner and Co-Head of the EB-5 Practice at WR Immigration, where he is a member of the firm’s EB-5 and business immigration teams. Licensed to practice law in Illinois, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, Barnett focuses exclusively on immigration and nationality law and has extensive experience representing immigrant investors seeking permanent residency through USCIS-designated regional centers and direct investment. He also counsels U.S. businesses and developers on creating, managing, and using regional centers to receive EB-5 capital and create jobs for U.S. workers. Barnett serves on the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) EB-5 Committee and is a member of the IIUSA Editorial Board. He was recognized as a Top 5 Rising Star in EB-5 in 2019, has been included in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2023, and was named a Top 25 Immigration Attorney by EB5 Investors Magazine for three consecutive years, from 2023 through 2025.
Charlie Oppenheim
Director of Visa Consulting, WR Immigration
Charlie Oppenheim is WR Immigration’s Director of Visa Consulting and heads the firm’s Government Relations Group. He spent more than 43 years with the U.S. Department of State, joining as a consular officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in 1979 and ultimately serving as Chief of the Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division in the Office of Domestic Operations from January 1998 until his retirement in December 2021. In that role, Oppenheim was personally responsible for the monthly and annual allocation of immigrant visa numbers and authored the Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for more than two decades, with his monthly Q&A sessions closely followed throughout the immigration bar. Both the White House and Congressional leadership have turned to him for guidance on the visa numerical control process. In 2022, AILA presented Oppenheim with its Founders Award for his impact on immigration law and policy. He now leads WR Immigration’s ongoing “Chatting with Charlie” webinar series on visa bulletin developments and trends.
