IMMIGR ATION AT TORNE YS
David Hirson
David Hirson and Partners LLP
David Hirson has been involved with
EB-5 cases since the program’s inception
in 1990, placing him among the most
experienced active EB-5 immigration
attorneys in the nation. He was
present in the U.S. Senate when EB-5
legislation was originally proposed,
and he debated and subsequently filed
one of the first cases for a family from
Kate Kalmykov
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Kate Kalmykov is an EB-5 immigration
attorney and sha reholder in the New
York City area offices of Greenberg
Traurig LLP, a top-ranking international
law firm. She is an active member in
the immigration law community and
has been working on EB-5 cases for
a decade. Kalmykov recognized the
opportunity that the EB-5 program
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Taiwan. In fact, Hirson filed many of
the approved EB-5 cases during the first
10 years of the EB-5 visa program.
Hirson originally took on EB-5
cases because of the variety of legal work
involved and the challenge of structuring compliant transactions, which he
found to be far more interesting than
regular business immigration work. He
also appreciates the sense of achieving
a win-win-win for the United States,
developers and individual immigrants
at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. Now with
more than 30 years of experience,
Hirson sees the industry continuing to
expand, and hopes the regional center
program will become permanent and
the method of counting visa numbers
for investors and their dependents will
be improved.
For more than 20 years, Hirson
has been certified by the State
Bar of California’s Board of Legal
Specialization as a Specialist in
Immigration and Nationality Law. He
regularly travels to China and other
countries and has developed relationships with top providers who source
investors for EB-5 projects in each
country. Additionally, he attends trade
shows, gives lectures, and establishes
new ties within the EB-5 community
during his trips.
Hirson established his own firm,
David Hirson and Partners LLP, in
Newport Beach, California. There,
Hirson and his team undertake all
aspects of EB-5 work, including
regional center designations and
amendments; advising and structuring
EB-5-compliant projects; advising on
direct investments for both small and
multi-million dollar raises; and filing
individual investor cases for regional
center and direct investors. The firm is
taking on an increasing workload, and
continues to build their EB-5 team.
offered to immigrants who did not have
the option of obtaining a visa through
family or employment connections,
while simultaneously contributing
to the growth of the U.S. economy
through job creation.
Kalmykov finds EB-5 to be a
fascinating field that has experienced
exponential growth, and she is rewarded
by helping investors fulfill their dreams.
As an immigrant herself, Kalmykov
can personally relate to her clients, and
she also finds a certain satisfaction in
seeing projects develop from the ground
up. She understands the concerns and
motivations for seeking immigration
through investment, and that insight
fuels her unique approach to investor
filings. Longtime client Dan Fulop says
that working with Kate means more
than just hiring someone to get the job
done; she becomes a real partner in
whatever project she is working on.
As part of Greenberg Traurig’s
EB-5 team, Kalmykov represents both
immigrant investors and regional center
clients. She is adept at navigating her
clients through a process where the
rules are constantly changing based
on government adjudication trends.
Her experience runs the gamut of
EB-5-related applications and takes her
all over the world. She has traveled to
China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Qatar,
Cambodia, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico
and the United Arab Emirates to
attend EB-5 events and network in the
community.
Kalmykov writes for EB5Investors.
com, EB-5insights.com and has been
quoted in The New York Times, The
Wall Street Journal, New Jersey Law
Journal, and on CNN, among other
prominent publications. For the past
four years she has been a panelist
speaker at Southern California’s EB-5
Conference, and served as co-chair in
2014. Apart from EB-5, Kalmykov is
passionate about raising her five-yearold, yoga and boxing.
EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE