EB-5 for Indian Investors: Navigating RBI, FEMA and the Path to a Green Card

Vijay ThirumalaiCEO of Goldwater Global

Vijay Thirumalai is the CEO of Goldwater Global, India's fastest growing wealth and asset management firm exclusively focused on the top 0.1% of Global Indians. Goldwater serves UHNIs, HNIs, marquee CXOs, star engineers, startup founders, and NRI families navigating global mobility, cross-border wealth structuring, and the EB-5 pathway to a US Green Card

With over two decades of experience in transaction structuring, fund raising, and due diligence, Vijay brings a rare combination of institutional rigor and entrepreneurial edge. Prior to founding Goldwater, he built two successful startups from scratch to multi-million dollar exits. Before that, as part of the leadership team at EY India, he executed over $1 billion in M&A, private equity, and structured credit transactions, advising marquee founders, CXOs, and business families across sectors.

Today, Vijay is the trusted advisor to India's top 0.1% on their EB-5 journey and global mobility ambitions, having raised over $100 million in EB-5 transactions and bringing together capital, compliance, and clarity under one roof.

Ajay Rotti is the Founder and CEO of Tax Compass, one of India's most respected firms specializing in RBI and FEMA compliance for cross-border transactions. A Chartered Accountant and Law Graduate with over 22 years of experience in tax and regulatory advisory, Ajay brings rare depth across international tax, transfer pricing, LRS structuring, and outward remittance compliance.

Prior to founding Tax Compass, Ajay was Co-Founder of Dhruva Advisors LLP and before that a Partner in International Taxation at KPMG, with earlier stints at BMR Advisors and Ernst & Young. He has advised large multinational corporations and leading Indian companies on complex direct tax and regulatory matters, and has represented clients before regulatory authorities on corporate tax and transfer pricing assessments.

Today, Ajay is the go-to authority for Indian UHNIs, NRIs, and star founders navigating cross-border investment compliance, having advised on hundreds of millions of dollars in outbound transactions and spoken at leading investment and immigration forums across India and the diaspora.

Joey Barnett is a partner at the firm and a member of its EB-5 and business immigration practices. He is licensed as an attorney in Illinois, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, and practices exclusively in immigration and nationality law.

Mr. Barnett has extensive experience representing immigrant investors seeking permanent residency in the United States through USCIS-designated Regional Centers and investment in their own businesses. Mr. Barnett also counsels U.S. businesses and developers in creating, managing, and using Regional Centers for the receipt of EB-5 capital to create jobs for U.S. workers.

He currently serves on the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) EB-5 Committee and is a member of the IIUSA Editorial Board. He is a former member of AILA’s Benefits Litigation Committee. Mr. Barnett was selected by industry peers as a Top 5 Rising Star in EB-5 in 2019 and was also selected for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. He earned recognition from EB-5 Magazine as a Top 25 Immigration Attorney for three consecutive years, from 2023–2025.

Mr. Barnett’s practice includes the representation of foreign nationals under other employment-based green card categories, such as executive and managerial transferees in multinational companies as well as researchers, professors, medical professionals, engineers, musicians and artists, media and public relations professionals, and others with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.

Mr. Barnett is also responsible for a variety of other immigration matters, including temporary work visas (B-1, E-2, H-1B, L-1, O-1, P-1), F-1 reinstatements, administrative appeals, and federal writ of mandamus lawsuits and APA actions against the U.S. government