The E-2 visa is one of the oldest routes to the United States of America, its roots go all the way back to treaties that were signed in the Eighteen Hundreds after the end of the American-British war.
This Visa route has been introduced by the U.S Government to promote commerce and economic development in the country, it allows investors and senior-level employees to live and work in the United States to direct and develop their business.
The E-2 Visa is available for entrepreneurs from certain countries that have a treaty of commerce and with the United States, anyone from these countries can be eligible to apply for the E-2 Investor Visa by investing in an existing business or starting a new business in the U.S.
It is considered one of the easier routes to the United States, as there’s no set minimum investment amount, lower processing times than other Visa types (2-4 months), can be renewed indefinitely as long as the business which was listed in the application is running and that the investor is currently running and directing that business (2 years at a time), and it has less strict due diligence procedures.
As for the applicants’ families, the spouse will be able to work in any business in the U.S, and their eligible children (below 21 years old) will be able to enroll in schools and colleges at an internal resident tuition rate. Applying for the applicant’s family doesn’t require them to have the same nationality as the main applicant, they will apply for the same visa types as dependents and will be granted the visa for the same period as the main applicant.
To able to apply for this visa type, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Be a national of a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation, up until the end of July 2019, the U.S has treaties with 84 countries.
- Have invested, or be actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital in an enterprise in the United States.
- Be seeking to enter the United States solely to develop and direct the investment enterprise, by showing at least 50% ownership of the enterprise or possession of operational control through a managerial position or other corporate advice.
- The investment capital must be of risk, this requirement means that the investor must not be able to withdraw from the investment without any affiliated risks, such a requirement will be fulfilled by having lease or purchase agreements.
- The business must not be a marginal enterprise, a marginal enterprise is one that does not have the present or future capacity to generate more than enough income to provide a minimal living for the treaty investor or his or her family, which means that U.S workers are or will be employed in the intended business.
It is important to know that the E-2 visa is not a green card and does not offer permanent residency for investors and that investors must buy the ownership stake before applying to this Visa type.
The E-2 visa remains one of the most popular routes to the U.S due to its affordability and ease of the process, however, investors usually prefer the permanent residency investment option which is the EB-5 Investor visa, We have been offering the EB-5 Investor program and have maintained a strong successful track record since our establishment