Judge Tosses Chinese Investor’s EB-5 Visa Lawsuit After Shortcut Backfires

A federal court in Washington, D.C., has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a Chinese investor against top U.S. immigration officials. The judge ruled that the court did not have the authority to hear the case because the investor skipped a required step in the appeal process before suing.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton granted the government’s motion to dismiss the claims brought by Lulu Liu, who had applied for an EB-5 immigrant-investor visa. The ruling does not affect a separate claim filed by her mother, Li Liu, whose lawsuit remains active.

The conflict started with $500,000 investments made by both women in late 2016. The money went toward funding the New York Wheel Project in Staten Island. Under the EB-5 program, foreign investors can apply for U.S. permanent residency (a green card) if they invest money in business projects that create at least ten full-time jobs.

Both women submitted their visa applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in late 2016. In late 2024, USCIS rejected both applications, stating that neither applicant had proven that their invested funds came from a legal source.

Following the rejections, both women filed paperwork to challenge the decision, but they took different paths. Li Liu filed an official appeal with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), which was turned down in May 2025. Lulu Liu instead filed a motion asking the local agency office to reopen and reconsider her case. That request was denied in December 2024.

Rather than taking further steps within the agency, both women filed a joint lawsuit in federal court in October 2025. They sued the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, USCIS, and several agency officials. They asked the court to declare the visa denials unlawful and order the agency to re-examine their cases.

Government attorneys asked the court to throw out Lulu Liu’s portion of the lawsuit. They pointed to the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, a law passed by Congress that prevents federal courts from reviewing EB-5 cases unless the applicant has gone through every available agency appeal first.

Lulu Liu’s lawyers argued that agency rules made appeals optional rather than required. They also claimed that applying a 2022 law to an application filed in 2016 was unfair, and that filing an appeal would have been pointlessly futile because the agency rarely reverses decisions on money-sourcing issues.

Judge Walton rejected all three arguments. He explained that federal laws passed by Congress override general agency regulations. He also ruled that the 2022 law applied because the agency made its final decision on her case in late 2024, long after the law took effect.

Finally, the judge noted that when a law strictly requires an appeal, courts cannot make exceptions just because a plaintiff thinks the appeal will lose.

Because Li Liu completed the formal AAO appeal process before going to court, the government did not ask to dismiss her claims, allowing her case to move forward.