Investor visas, also known as treaty visas, encourage trade between countries. Additionally, these visas allow investors and their employees to enter the United States and bring their businesses, as well as the jobs they provide, to our country. If you believe you may qualify for an investor visa, here are some of the questions you may have regarding your legal options going forward:
What are the advantages of an E visa?
E visas are the only visas that allow a foreign national to be self-employed in the United States. Additionally, E visas grant temporary citizenship for up to five years, and can then be renewed and extended in five-year increments as long as the qualifying activity continues. During the time an E visa is valid, the principal applicant’s spouse and children of the investor will be admitted in the same category and are therefore eligible for employment authorization in the United States.
Additionally, an E visa allows a direct filing with the consular post, bypassing the USCIS’s approval. If granted, you may also stay in the U.S. indefinitely, and prior work experienced or an advanced degree is not required. There are also no statutory limitations to the number of E visas that can be issued.
What is an E-1 visa?
E-1 visas are primarily granted to employees of enterprises. An E-1 visa will help an employee, or treaty trader maintain trade between the U.S. and the treaty country. However, the treaty trader must be a national of that foreign treaty country, among several other qualifications. Some of those qualifications are as follows:
- There must be a traceable exchange between the US and the treaty country
- The trade must be international and involve goods, services, and money
- The trade must already exist between a ratified trade treaty country and the U.S.
- A minimum of 50% of the international trade conducted by a trader must be between the U.S. and that treaty country
- Trade must be substantial
- The derived income of trade should support the trader and his or her family
- The employee may hold a managerial or supervisory position within the enterprise or possess certain qualification essential to the business’s success, however, the owner of the enterprise must also be national to the foreign state and own at least fifty percent of the company
What is an E-2 visa?
To obtain an E-2 visa, the foreign investor or enterprise must
- Have invested or be active in the process of investing in a U.S. enterprise
- Have an investment of capital placed at risk in a commercial enterprise with the expectation of making a profit
- Possess, and control, the investment
- Have an investment irrevocably committed to the U.S. enterprise and subject to partial or total loss if the investment does not succeed
- Have unsecured personal business capital or capital secured by personal assets
Contact our experienced Wisconsin firm
John Sesini is an experienced immigration attorney with offices in Green Bay and Milwaukee Wisconsin. Our firm understands what is at stake when it comes to immigration law matters, which is why If you have any questions, you should not hesitate to contact the Sesini Law Group, S.C. and schedule your initial consultation with our firm today.