My Immigration Story

For years, I’ve written about EB-5, investor visas, immigration strategy, and the work I do with attorneys and investors. But I haven’t shared much about the personal journey that brought me into this field in the first place.

This year, I want to change that.

I plan to share more about my life—not just as a professional, but as a businesswoman, a mom, and an immigrant. And I thought the best place to begin was with my own immigration story.

I was born in Lithuania, back when the country was still part of the Soviet Union.

When I was young, my parents applied to immigrate to several countries, including the United States, Germany, and Australia. Like many families at the time, they were looking for economic stability and a chance to build a more secure future. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, life was changing fast, and the future felt incredibly uncertain.

Eventually, my family’s applications were approved by a few countries. But by then, my parents had started a business in Lithuania. They decided to stay put for a while and see where that new chapter would take them.

Then, about seven years later, something completely unexpected happened.

A letter arrived from the U.S. government, scheduling our family for an immigration interview in Moscow.

My parents’ first reaction was, “What immigration interview?”

They had completely forgotten about the application they had submitted years prior and never heard back about.

After a long and often confusing process, my family finally moved to the United States in 1999 as lawful permanent residents.

Years later, after becoming an immigration attorney myself, I got curious about how our case had actually been handled. I submitted a FOIA request for my family’s immigration records to finally get the full story.

Looking through those records, I discovered we had immigrated under a program that no longer exists—one designed specifically for highly educated professionals leaving communist and socialist regimes.

Looking back, that experience shaped my life much more than I realized at the time. It ultimately guided my professional path. When I became an immigration lawyer, I chose to focus exclusively on EB-5 and investment immigration. Today, that personal background drives how I work with attorneys and investors navigating the EB-5 process—with a deep emphasis on clarity, transparency, and thoughtful decision-making.

Immigration wasn’t just the practice area I happened to choose. It was woven into my family’s story long before I ever became a lawyer.

Moving forward, I want to share more of that story—along with insights from my work, my journey as a businesswoman and mother, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

If you’re an investor or an immigration attorney looking to better understand EB-5 projects and strategy, I’d love to connect.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/irinarostova/

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Brokerage services are provided by Sequence Financial Specialists (Member FINRA/SIPC) d/b/a InvestAmerica to accredited investors only. These securities are not registered with the SEC. Investing involves risks, including the possible loss of principal. Investing in alternative investments is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk and has the potential for significant losses, including, in some cases, losses that exceed the principal amount invested. Some alternative investments have experienced periods of extreme volatility and, in general, are not suitable for all investors. EB-5 Support and Sequence Financial Specialist are separate entities.