Generally, if the applicant is not the principal investor, he or she must be employed in an executive or supervisory capacity, or possess skills that are highly specialized and essential to the operations of the commercial enterprise. You can usually go to the Consulate and apply for the E-2 in the country you live in. Please contact us if you would like to set up a consultation. Consider, however, that the E-2 Visa requires investment into the United States which results in the creation of a non-marginal (e.g. American-job creating) business.

See our E2 visa business plan preparation service for details. Nationals of the treaty country must own at least 50 per cent of the stock of the United States Company i.e. the firm you intend to invest in or work for must be majority-owned by individuals of the treaty country’s nationality.

The source and path of funds needs to be documented and clean, and it also cannot be generated inside the U.S. by the E-2 business unless the funds are paid directly to the investor and the investor pays U.S. taxes on the amount. A previous L-1 visa is no guarantee, however, of a Green Card.

See U.S. Department of State’s Treaty Countries for a current list of countries with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation. Children can study but unfortunately are not allowed to work under the e2 visa renewal Treaty Investor visa category.

If the principal alien employer is not an individual, it must be an enterprise or organization at least 50% owned by persons in the United States who have the nationality of the treaty country. If you have already spent large amounts of money on your business before applying for the visa, it means you are probably going to do what it takes to make it work once you get the visa.

Unlike most visas, the E-2 visa has no true expiration date. Visa status is not available to investors who are merely residents of the treaty country, or who hold “inferior” passports due to secondary nationality status within the treaty country. All E-2 nonimmigrants, however, must maintain an intention to depart the United States when their status expires or is terminated.

Whether an investment will be considered substantial and not marginal will depend on the costs to operate the business and the revenue that is expected from the operations of the business. The United States lists different countries that have treaties set up between them, allowing for business to flow between borders.

However, a qualified immigration attorney will be able to help you prove dual intent to U.S. immigration services and obtain your green card. With its fast processing time and lower requirements relative to other options, the E-2 visa is strongly flexible to whatever your personal and immigration goals are.

It is recommended that the investment should be of an amount between $100,000 to $200,000, although smaller investment qualify sometimes. Case-Specific Questions – Contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate handling your visa application for status information. An E2 treaty investor visa is a non-immigrant visa reserved for foreign entrepreneurs of countries that have a Treaty of Trade and Commerce with the United States.

The requirements and procedure for obtaining E-2 status as a treaty investor under the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) are very similar to those for E-1 status. It’s necessary to illustrate our opinion thatso long as there will be international investment with treaty countries, there will E-2 Visas enabling oversight of those investments.