David has more than 30 years of experience in the practice of immigration law. His focus is on EB-5 investment immigration law. He has been certified as a Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization continuously since 1990.

Representative Experience:

• Manages immigration accounts for multiple companies and individual investors.
• Assists companies with start-up expansion, merger and acquisition relating to immigration law, compliance and case processing.
• Retained by many high net worth individuals in the immigration related aspects of their investments.
• Advises on the start-up of and files Regional Center applications and individual Green Card applications for investors under the EB- 5 Investor Visa category. This includes EB-5 investors of all categories: Regional Center investors, single investors in direct hire programs, and multiple investors in small and large direct hire programs. David is considered a senior and highly experienced EB-5 attorney. In particular, the following are some of his experience in this specific field:
  • Has been actively involved with EB-5 cases since passage of the law in 1990.
  • Was present in the Senate in Washington, D.C. in 1990 when the EB-5 bill was marked up and Senator Biden, now Vice President Biden, was debating the proposed new law.
  • In 1991, personally prepared and filed one of the very first EB-5 cases with the INS (now USCIS). The case was approved and the investor and family returned to the U.S. to be admitted as a conditional permanent resident in less than 5 months. The same case was the first case to be consular processed and approved at the AIT (American Institute of Travel) in Taiwan.
  • Successfully filed and received approvals of many cases in the first 10 years of the program. Only about 300 cases were approved annually by the INS/USCIS in the early years of the program. After year 2000, the program began to pick up and the approved EB-5 cases broke through the 1000 barrier. In fiscal year 2013, almost the full quota of 10,000 EB-5 visas were issued.
  • Personally argued appeals at the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and had 4 cases approved after they were denied by the INS/USCIS and certified to the appeal unit.
  • Has applied for multiple regional centers to be designated and approved by USCIS.
  • Was the partner leading the sizeable EB-5 team at the Fragomen Irvine office, which comprised of attorneys, supervising paralegals, paralegals, legal assistants, and administrative staff.
  • Referred many of the EB-5 cases within the U.S. Fragomen offices including San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Professional Accomplishments:

Memberships

• Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Orange County Bar Association
• Member, Beverly Hills Bar Association

Publications and Lectures

• Panel member on advanced topics at the ILW all-day EB-5 seminar, New York December, 2013
• Author “How to Become a Regional Center” for EB-5 investor magazine
• Author “Direct Investment Private equity Model” for EB-5 Investor magazine
• Co-author on numerous publications relating to EB-5 regulations and investments

Court Admissions

• California Superior Court
• California Central District Court

Professional Memberships:

Current Memberships

• Member, Orange County Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section
• Member, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Immigration Law Section
• Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
• Member, American Bar Association (ABA)
• Member of the policy committee of the IIUSA (Invest in USA), an EB-5 Regional Center trade and professional organization
• Member of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA)

Previous Memberships

• Chapter Chair, Southern California Chapter of AILA
• Chaired, State Bar of California, International Law Section
• Chaired, State Bar of California, International Law Section, Immigration Law sub-committee
• Chaired, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Investor Visa Committee
• Co-Chair Committee on Consular Processing Southern California Chapter of AILA
• Vice-Chair, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS now USCIS) Headquarters Liaison Committee in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the National Office of AILA
• Co-Chair, Liaison Committee to the Western Region of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (WAC) now California Service Center on behalf of AILA

Publications and Lectures

• Lectures to Bar Associations, Human Resources Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Investment programs and trade organizations in the U.S. and abroad.
• Lectures on the EB-5 topic to attorneys and to the public in the U.S., China, UAE, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Vietnam and others.
• Co-Author of the Immigration Chapter Section of “Corporate Legal Departments,” Practicing Law Institute (updated annually for more than 5 years. Preparing 2014 update).
• Author of two EB-5 related editions of Immigration Briefings, a publication of West ®, a Thomson Reuters company:
  • Hirson, David, “Immigrant Investors: Five Years Later,” 95–11 Immigration Briefings (November 1995)
  • Hirson, David & Mayou, Catherine I., “The Sinking of the Titanic, or the Rising of the Phoenix? – An update on Immigrant Investor Visas,” 98-9 Immigration Briefings (September 1998)
• Publication of numerous other articles on general Immigration Law and on Corporate & Investment Immigration Law.
• Author of Immigration Chapter Section of “Corporate Compliance Practice Guide: The Next Generation of Compliance,” LexisNexis 2009 (updated 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and preparing 2014 update).
• Member of the editorial board and contributor to EB5Investor.com magazine. All published additions and preparing for the Fall 2014 edition.
• Member of the editorial board and contributor to “The EB-5 Handbook, A Guide for Investors and Developers” to be published in 2014.

Awards

• International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers (Corporate Immigration)
• Southern California Super Lawyers, America’s Best Lawyers, Best Immigration Lawyers in United States by Best of the U.S., annually from 2006 – 2014
• Martindale Hubbell AV Rated for almost 20 consecutive years, 1995 – 2014
• Recognized as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Orange County, 2007 – 2014
• Orange Coast Top Attorney, 2006 – 2014
• Strathmore’s Who’s Who, Professional of the year 2007 and Lifetime Member 3
• America’s Registry, Outstanding Professional, 2008 – 2014
• Madison Who’s Who Registry of Executives & Professionals, 2009 – 2014
• American Honor’s Society, Standards of Professionalism within the field of Legal Service and Global Immigration Laws, inducted 2011
• EB-5 Immigration Law Firm of the Year 2012 presented by Artisan Business Group, Inc.
• American Society of Legal Advocates Top 100 Immigration Lawyer in the State of California