Michele Franchett

Contact:

Email: michele@sggimmigration.com

Michele Franchett

Partner & Certified Specialist

Michele Franchett is a partner at SGG Immigration LLP.  She is admitted to the California Bar, and is a Certified Specialist in the practice of Immigration and Nationality Law.  She has over twenty years of experience in the field, and holds the highest, preeminent “AV” rating from Martindale Hubbell.  Her current practice is focused on investor and entrepreneurial immigration, with particular emphasis on EB-5 capital group representation. She provides counsel to a number of regional centers seeking to obtain or amend regional center designations and exemplar petition approvals. Ms. Franchett serves on the Public Policy Committee of IIUSA (Invest in the USA) – the national industry trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program, the AILA national EB-5 Committee, and  is a former chair of  the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) Southern California Chapter.

Ms. Franchett began working in the area of U.S. immigration law in 1986, and has acquired experience encompassing virtually every area of business-based immigration, including employment-based immigration, employer compliance, and I-9 audits (both internal and those initiated by ICE/HSI). She has represented multinational corporations, research hospitals, universities, investors, entrepreneurs, academicians, artists, and entrepreneurs from around the globe. Ms. Franchett has also represented clients applying for visas at U.S. Consulates in Toronto, Halifax, Ciudad Juarez, and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. In more recent years she traveled to China to provide EB-5 training for licensed migration consultants.

Ms. Franchett graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies. She began studying Mandarin at the age of 15, and completed First-Year Intensive Japanese at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, as well as coursework at the Taiwan Normal University Mandarin Training Center in Taipei. She received her law degree from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, and is conversant in Mandarin.

In her free time, Ms. Franchett enjoys visiting her family in Minneapolis, tennis, biking, hiking, and reading.

 

Speaking Engagements

  • 2022, November – Investment Visa Hot Topics – 35th Annual AILA California Chapters Conference
  • 2021, April – AILA Conversations with the EB-5 Committee
  • 2020, December – AILA Conversations with the EB-5 Committee
  • 2020, May – AILA Conversations with the EB-5 Committee
  • 2019, October  – The New Normal for TEAs: What Are the Changes & How to Adapt – IIUSA 9th Annual EB-5 Industry Forum, Seattle, WA
  • 2019, May – RFEs, NOITs, and Regional Center Terminations: Trends and How to Respond – IIUSA 12th Annual EB-5 Advocacy Conference, Washington, DC
  • 2018, October – USCIS Adjudications: RFE, NOIT, and NOID Trends, Response Strategies and Implications for Investors – AILA & IIUSA EB-5 Industry Forum, Chicago, IL
  • 2018, April – USCIS Processing Times & Practical Strategies for Investor Success – IIUSA 11th Annual EB-5 Advocacy Conference, Washington, DC
  • 2018, January – RFE/NOID Trends (Case Studies), EB5 Investors Magazine’s Global Investment Immigration Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada
  • 2017, December – Latest RFE Trends, AILA EB-5 Investors Summit, Las Vegas, Nevada
  • 2017, October – RFE Trends: What is USCIS Focused on in EB-5 Investor & Project Adjudications, IIUSA EB-5 Industry Forum, Miami, Florida
  • 2016, October – Issue Spotting in EB-5 Legislation for Investors – IIUSA EB-5 Industry Forum – Los Angeles, California
  • 2016, October – Representing Regional Centers with Setting Up, Maintaining Status, and Planning Projects – AILA EB-5 Investors Summit, Washington, DC
  • 2016, April – The Future of EB-5 in California – California Association for Local Economic Development (“CALED”) 36th Annual Training Conference, San Francisco, California
  • 2015, August – Job Creation Methodologies for Regional Center Projects – AILA EB-5 Investors Summit, Las Vegas, Nevada
  • 2015, February – EB-5 Recent Trends – AILA Southern California Winter CLE Conference, Palm Springs, California
  • 2014, July – I-829 Removal Process – AILA EB-5 Investors and Regional Centers Conference, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2014, June – Performing Immigration Due Diligence on EB-5 Regional Centers, AILA Annual Conference, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 2014, March – Regional Centers vs. Direct Investments, Los Angeles County Bar Association EB-5 Seminar, Los Angeles, California
  • 2014, March – EB-5 Overview, AILA Southern California Chapter Winter CLE Conference, Mammoth, California
  • 2013, October – EB-5 Visa Quota Retrogression, AILA National Webinar
  • 2013, October – I-829 and Documenting Job Creation, ILW EB-5 Summit for Attorneys and Developers, Los Angeles, California
  • 2013, May – I-829 and Documenting Job Creation, ILW EB-5 Summit for Attorneys and Developers, Washington, DC
  • 2012, April – Focus on Investors From China, AILA National EB-5 Conference, Nassau, Bahamas
  • 2011, October – To EB-5 or Not to EB-5, AILA National EB-5 Conference, San Antonio, Texas

 

Publications

  • Associate Editor, Immigration Options for Investors and Entrepreneurs (AILA 4th ed. 2019)
  • Job Creation for I-829 Petitions, Immigration Options for Investors & Entrepreneurs, 4th  Edition, AILA, 2019
  • Regional Center Terminations and Impacts on Immigrant Families, IIUSA Regional Center Business Journal, July 2017
  • No Legislative Reform, Now What? A Roundtable With EB-5 Experts, IIUSA Regional Center Business Journal, April 2016
  • Representing Investors and Entrepreneurs from China, Amidst a Market Enthralled by EB-5, Immigration Options for Investors & Entrepreneurs, 3rd Edition, AILA, 2014
  • Immigration Update, PIHRA Scope, May 2002
  • Spousal Work Authorization Bill Signed by President Bush, PIHRA Scope, March 2002
  • Overview of Recent Changes in Immigration Law Affecting Health Care Human Resource Administrators, AHHRA News, 1996
  • DV Lotteries–A Mad or Rational Way to Allocate Immigrant Visas, AILA Immigration & Nationality Law Handbook, 1996
  • Non-Traditional H-1Bs and TNs, Emerging Issues in Immigration Law, AILA California Chapters Conference Handbook, 1994

 

Notable Professional Activities

  • Member, Public Policy Committee, Invest in the USA (IIUSA), 2015 – present
  • Member AILA EB-5 Committee, 2014 – 2016, 2018 – present
  • Vice Chair AILA EB-5 Committee, 2020-2021
  • Chair, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Southern California Chapter, 1996 – 1997
  • Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association

 

Bar Admission and Certifications

  • Certified Specialist in Immigration & Nationality Law, 2014 – present, California Sate Bar

 

 Experience

  • Partner, SGG Immigration LLP, Los Angeles, CA – January 2014 to present
  • Associate Attorney, Stone & Grzegorek LLP, Los Angeles, CA – July 2009 to December 2013
  • Associate Attorney, Bernard P. Wolfsdorf, A Professional Law Corporation, Pacific Palisades, CA – April 1993 to January 2006

 

Areas of Expertise

  • EB-5 advising for groups seeking to raise capital
  • EB-5 compliance and eligibility analyses of offering documents and comprehensive business plans
  • EB-5 economic impact and job creation report analyses
  • Advising on template and exemplar I-526 Petitions
  • Advising on I-924 amendment filings
  • Advising on I-924A annual report filings
  • Advising individuals seeking to immigrate on range of options
  • Consular processing of immigrant visa applications
  • Consular processing of nonimmigrant employment-based visa applications
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