How to open a business and get a visa in the USA
Open a business in America, get a residence permit and move the whole family overseas. This can be done thanks to investment visas. There are several types of them, each with its own requirements. Some require a minimum investment amount, others require you to have an already operating business in your home country. They all have different validity periods, but each of them opens the door to obtaining a green card. ForumDaily figured out who and how can get L-1, E-2 and EB-5 visas
L-1: executive transfer visa
Andrey Kudievsky has been living in sunny Santa Monica for four years now. He moved closer to the ocean from Russia, where he managed to build a successful software development business. At first, the young businessman came to the United States simply on a tourist visa - to look around. I already decided on the spot: if I were to start a business in America, then an L-1 visa would be the most suitable option for him.
“I started the company with a rather modest investment - I invested $250 thousand, which is 4 times less than what was required under the EB-5 investor visa. And with an L-1 visa, there are no budget restrictions,” says the entrepreneur.
The L-1 visa is ideal for all types of businesses, from small to large. But initially it was created specifically for large companies that have offices around the world. “For example, if Microsoft wants to transfer a talented employee from the Paris office to the American office, it is the L-1 that will allow them to do this,” explains the company’s immigration lawyer KarasikLawGroup Olga Karasik.
At the same time, if the owner of the business is at the same time a manager, no one forbids such an investor to transfer himself, roughly speaking, to an American office. But such a process involves the fulfillment of a number of conditions.
The first condition: The investor must have a working company in his home country and be its manager for at least a year. Andrei Kudievsky fit this parameter: “In fact, my Russian company, in which I worked and which I managed, transferred me to an American company in order to expand my business.”
The second condition: an investor can purchase an existing business in the United States or open a new one. But in any case, an American company must be connected with one that operates in the businessman’s homeland and work in the same field. “If, for example, your business is software development, then on an L-1 visa you cannot come and open a business selling pies,” explains Olga Karasik.
The third condition: even after the visa is issued, the company in the investor’s home country must not only exist, but also actively work. Otherwise, your visa will simply not be extended. Andrey is satisfied with this condition - his business in the USA allows him to develop the company in his homeland.
“My company not only exists in Russia, it has doubled in size and scope, so I continue to do business in both countries. The presence of the company in the USA allowed me to increase turnover in Russia several times,” he says.
The fourth condition: You will need to provide a detailed business plan, proof that you can cover all necessary expenses, and show the source of your funds. Andrei recalls: his stack of documents was more than 10 centimeters high: “At the time of opening the L-1 visa I already had an American company, it worked, it was staffed. I provided data on both companies, indicated that there was a turn, submitted lists of all employees, advertising materials, screenshots from our websites. ”
At the same time a lawyer Olga Karasik notes that the specific amount of investment for the L-1 visa is not stated anywhere. The parent company must show that it can financially hold a subsidiary company for the first time until it gets on its feet and starts supporting itself.
There are two main types of L-1 visa:
- L-1A - visa for managers and management. That was exactly what Andrei got. Since he opened a new company, he was first given a visa for 1 year. If he had bought an existing company that has been operating in the USA for more than a year, he would have received a visa for 3. Further, the visa can be extended for up to 7 years.
- L-1B is a visa for employees who have “specialized knowledge.” It is given for 3 years with the possibility of extension for another 2. Using this type of visa, Andrei has already hired two of his Russian employees in the American office.
L-1 visa and green card
“The beauty of the L-1 visa is that it does not change your immigration intentions. That is, you can apply for a green card,” says Andrei Kudievsky, who has already submitted an application for residence.
Immigration lawyer Olga Karasik assures: the L-1 visa provides a fairly easy way to a green card, especially in comparison with many other types of employment on non-immigrant visas.
“Any holder of such a visa may qualify for permanent resident status at any time while in legal status (including while immediately arriving in the United States). For example, you can change your status to the EB-1C visa, which is designed specifically for executives and managers. The latter must meet the L-1A visa requirements, manage a company in the US for at least a year and be interested in legally obtaining permanent resident status,” explains Olga Karasik.
E-2 visa: start a business from scratch
Ukrainian Roman Tsibulsky a year and a half as an American businessman. Previously, he had a logistics company in Russia, but in connection with the sanctions, he began to look for new business opportunities.
“I came on a tourist visa to first understand whether I could start a business in the States. Then my brother and I opened a company in Idaho, started working and submitted documents to change our status,” recalls Roman.
They deliberately chose the E-2 visa, which is mainly used by small business owners. Such a visa, on the one hand, does not require the presence of a parent company abroad, like L-1. On the other hand, the amount of investment, in accordance with the law, must be “substantial.” “This is an investor visa. We had enough funds to open a business in the USA. But it wasn’t enough to qualify for EB-5 status, where you need to invest half a million dollars,” explains Roman. “And this business must be “non-marginal,” that is, the business must support the investor and his family,” adds the lawyer Olga Karasik.
These types of visas are made possible by the signing of bilateral Trade Cooperation Agreements between the United States and many other countries. Therefore, the first condition of E-2 is to be a citizen of a country that has a similar agreement with America.
“For example, Russia and Belarus do not have such an agreement, and citizens of these countries cannot apply for an E-2 visa. Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Baltic countries, all European countries, Canada, and many others have such an agreement,” clarifies Olga Karasik.
The second important point is to prove that your company will work productively in the United States and actively develop. In other words, you need to provide a convincing business plan and implement it, because the visa extension will depend on its implementation.
Initially, the E-2 visa is issued for 2 years. This period can then be extended an unlimited number of times. “I know people who have been here on an E-2 visa for 20-25 years. There are people who come here on such a visa, give birth to a child in America, he grows up and at the age of 21 he already applies for family reunification,” says Olga Karasik.
You cannot receive a green card directly through an E-2 visa. It does not have a dual purpose, like L1. And an officer of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, with each application for a visa extension, will wait for confirmation that the applicant does not plan to stay and live in the US permanently.
However, by working on an E-2 visa, you can collect the amount of investment required for an EB-5 investor visa, which directly leads to permanent residence in America.
Both on the L-1 visa and on the E-2, the investor has the right to carry with him the spouse (spouse) and children up to 21. However, he himself can work only in his company, but the spouses are allowed to work in the United States without restrictions. Therefore a lawyer Olga Karasik advises: carefully weigh which spouse is more likely to conquer the American employer.
“When spouses travel on an E-2 visa, I always advise you to think about which of them really has a better chance of getting a good American job. Who has the necessary education and knowledge of the language. Because sometimes it happens like this: the husband has a better chance of getting a job in an American company, and then we issue the entire business and E-2 visa to the wife, who receives investor status. And the husband receives a work permit,” she explains.
Visa EB-5: direct path to the green card
This visa was created by the US Congress to lure businessmen useful for the economy into the country and create jobs for American workers. They are offered a green card, and in return they are required to complete a list of conditions. The main ones are as follows:
- The amount of investment must be from one million dollars. In some cases (for example, sparsely populated areas, regions with a difficult economic situation) the amount may be $ 500 thousand;
- The investor must create a minimum of 10 full-time jobs. Employees must be legal residents of the United States and receive a salary of no lower than the average level in the industry;
- Capital must be legal. The investor must prove that the capital was not acquired in a criminal or illegal way.
Russian businessman Pyotr Silkin familiarized himself with the terms of the EB-5 visa immediately when he began planning to expand the business in the United States. And I understood: I can fulfill all the requirements.
“Since the scale of our business and the volume of investments exceeded a million dollars, I clearly understood that we qualified for the EB-5 program,” he says.
Peter notes that he needs a green card primarily for the smooth running of business, and not for the purpose of immigration. At the same time, he is confident that the entire process of opening a visa went quickly and smoothly because he carefully chose a lawyer and strictly fulfilled all the requirements.
“From the first steps we understood for ourselves that everything should be legally correct, everything should be coordinated with a lawyer. I selected the top 5 Russian-speaking lawyers, personally met with each person and stopped at the lawyer Olga Karasik. It is important to understand that if any procedures are prescribed or there are clear regulations and you meet all the conditions, then with a 99% probability you will get the desired result. All that is required is to immaculately follow the points that the lawyer tells you,” says Peter.
There are 2 ways to invest under an EB-5 visa - the standard program (direct investment) and the experimental program (through regional centers). Peter chose the first one and created a restaurant business in California. In addition to the specific amount of investment and job creation, the investor must take part in the management of such a company.
Also, the investor can create a new company based on the existing one. In this case, another requirement is added: as a result of this expansion, the value of the enterprise should increase by at least 40%.
In the pilot program, the investor invests funds not directly, but through intermediaries - Regional Centers. These are government-licensed institutions whose goal is to develop economically disadvantaged regions. This type of investment does not require the investor's company to employ 10 American employees. It is enough to prove that jobs will be created directly or indirectly as a result of investment activities.
The EB-5 visa first gives the investor the right to receive a temporary green card on the 2 of the year. After this period, it can be replaced by a permanent, and then get citizenship.
All 3 visas - L-1, E-2 and EB-5 - explains the lawyer Olga Karasik, a reliable way of immigration for those who want to move to the United States with their families and open their business there.
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