U.S. Immigration: Treaty Traders & Investors

U.S. Non-Immigrant Work Visas for Treaty Traders & Investors

E-1 VISA CATEGORY – TREATY TRADERS

The E-1 visa is a non-immigrant category granted to an eligible national of a treaty country with which the United States has special commerce and navigation relations under a treaty. Eligible foreign nationals of such countries and some of their eligible employees, or the employees of a qualifying company, will be allowed to engage in international trade in the United States.

Several requirements apply for an employee of a treaty trader to obtain an E-1 visa. For example:

1. The employee must also be a national of the treaty country;
2. The employee-employer relation should be demonstrated to prove that the employee receives wages or other remuneration from the employer in exchange of providing services or labor; and,
3. The employee must have a managerial, executive or supervisory role. If such requirements are not met, the employee must have special skills and qualifications essential to the trade operations. These skills can be unique expertise that others do not possess, or specifically related to the trade area and the employee earns a salary commensurate with the high level of the skills.

To qualify for an E-1 visa as an employee of a qualifying business additional conditions apply besides the qualifications discussed above:

1. The organization or enterprise must be 50% or more owned by persons who are nationals of the treaty country and who are intending to travel to the U.S. and engage in trade in the U.S.
2. Furthermore, the owners of the organization or business are required to maintain current non-immigrant treaty trader status, or, if they are operating the business outside of the U.S., they must meet the classification requirements.
   

LATEST NEWS
Effective Jan. 17, 2017 there will be a 60-day grace period for non-immigrant workers in the USA following loss of employment. This new rule applies to foreign nationals in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, or TN classification to allow them to apply for a change of employer or change of status. READ MORE...

E-2 VISA CATEGORY – TREATY INVESTOR

The E-2 visa is a non-immigrant category granted to an eligible national of a treaty country – with which the United States has special commerce and navigation relations under a treaty – when investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business. Besides eligible foreign nationals or qualifying companies, their employees may be also eligible for an E-2 treaty investor visa.

Qualifications of the treaty investor: The treaty investor must bring to the U.S. a real operating enterprise. Funds must be at risk while controlled directly by the treaty investor and investment cannot be a loan. Funds deposited in a US bank account in the U.S. are not considered investment. The enterprise should be profitable or have economic contributions in the U.S. within five (5) years of operations.

Nature of the business: The investor must be able to travel to the U.S. to develop and direct the enterprise. If the applicant of the E-2 treaty investor visa is not the principal investor, he or she must be employed in a supervisory or executive role or must possess highly specialized skills.

Employees of treaty investors: The foreign national must be of the same nationality as the employer from the treaty country. The employee-employer relation must be demonstrated and sufficiently documented. The foreign national employee must have a role of an executive or manager or must occupy a position requiring specific qualifications, expertise, and possess unique skills essential to the business. The salary of the foreign national must match the capacity and the skills.

Employees of organizations: A foreign national can also qualify for an E-2 treaty investor visa as the employee of a qualifying enterprise, business, or organization. The organization or enterprise must be at least 50% owned by nationals of the treaty country who are present inside the U.S. and holding current non-immigrant treaty investor status or, if they are outside of the U.S., they must meet the requirements of an E-2 treaty investor. The qualifications of the foreign national employee of a treaty organization, must meet the same requirements of an employee of a treaty investor discussed above.

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To obtain a strategic solution that fits your business needs under the E-1 treaty trader or the E-2 treaty investor visa categories, including how to apply, processing times, government fees, conditions for accompanying dependents or individuals and family members, length of stay in the U.S., and conditions of re-entry to the U.S., please schedule a consultation with our law firm.

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