Posts Tagged ‘E-2’

What are the requirements for an E-2 investor visa?

Nov 08, 2010 by No Comments

E-2 status is a temporary status for investors in a U.S. enterprise.  The investor’s country of citizenship must have entered into a treaty of commerce and navigation with the U.S. in order for the applicant to participate in the E-2 program.  The specific requirements are as follows:

1. The investor is a national of the treaty country

2. The investment is substantial in proportion to the type of E-2 business/industry

3. The investment is for a real and operating enterprise (speculative or idle investments do not qualify)

4. The investment is not marginal (income must be more than that required to earn a living or it must have significant impact on the U.S.)

5. The investor has possession and control of the funds

6. The investment is at-risk in the commercial sense

7. The investor is coming to the U.S. to develop and direct the enterprise

The E-2 category is also available to employees of E-2 enterprises if the employee is in a supervisory, executive or highly specialized skill capacity.  Please contact our San Francisco immigration law office if you need assistance with an E-2 investor petition.

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Visa Extensions: A Problem?

Jun 03, 2010 by No Comments

Many of my immigration attorney colleagues are reporting denials of visa extension requests.  These are situations where the foreign national is already in the U.S. working legally; but when it comes time to renew the visa, the USCIS says no. 

If your status is about to expire, do not think that the USCIS will simply rubber stamp a prior approval and extend your visa.  Now more than ever it is important to thoroughly document your eligibility again even if nothing about the employment situation has changed.  What was approved once will not necessarily be approved again. 

Although most reported cases I’ve heard about involve denials of L-1, O-1 and H-1B visa extensions, other visa types are not remotely immune to the culture of no that pervades USCIS these days. 

In fact, just this past weekend, the New York Times reported that E-2 visas are becoming difficult to extend.  See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30visas.html?pagewanted=2&sq=E-2%20visa&st=cse&scp=1  for a woeful tale of a business forced to shut down because its British proprietors were not able to renew their visas.

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