Non-Immigrant Visas

• Non-Immigrant Visas

  • E-1 Treaty Traders
  • E-2 Treaty Investors
  • E-3 Australian Professionals
  • L-1 Multi-National (intra-company) Visas – Executives, Managers or Employees with “Specialized Knowledge”

Family Based Petitions

• Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens – Parents, Spouses and Children under 21
• Adult Children (over 21) of U.S. Citizens
• Spouse and Minor Children of Green Card Holders

To qualify for an E-1 trader visa, a foreign business person must be seeking entry into the United States to carry on "substantial trade in goods or services in a capacity that is supervisory or executive or involves essential skills." E-1 visas were previously restricted to a trade of goods and specific services, including banking, finance, and the airline industry. This limited definition of services has been greatly expanded under NAFTA so that trade can be in goods or services without specification or restriction:

The term "trade" means the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods and/or services. Goods are tangible commodities or merchandise having intrinsic value. Services are economic activities whose outputs are other than tangible goods. Such service activities include but are not limited to banking, insurance, transportation, communications and date processing, advertising, accounting, design and engineering, management consulting, tourism, and technology transfer

As a TFN, you may be issued a treaty trader (E-1) nonimmigrant visa if all of the following requirements are met:

1. You or your firm is a TFN (at least 50% of the company stock is owned by TFNs)
2. You enter the United States to carry on substantial trade (more than 50%) between your U.S. business and a TFN country; it does not matter if your TFN company is engaged primarily in trade with countries other than the United States
3. The trade is already in existence at the time you apply for E-1 status
4. You engage in executive or managerial duties or possess special skills that make your services essential to the employer's operations
5. You confirm you will leave the United States upon termination of this status
   

Overview
Under section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), 10,000 immigrant visas per year are available to qualified individuals seeking permanent resident status on the basis of their engagement in a new commercial enterprise.

"Alien investors" must:

1. Demonstrate that a "qualified investment" and
2. Show, using reasonable methodologies, that 10 or more jobs are actually created either directly or indirectly by the new commercial enterprise through revenues generated from increased exports, improved regional productivity, job creation, or increased domestic capital investment resulting from the pilot program.

Eligibility
Permanent resident status based on EB-5 eligibility is available to investors, either alone or coming with their spouse and unmarried children. Eligible aliens are those who have invested -- or are actively in the process of investing -- the required amount of capital into a new commercial enterprise that they have established. They must further demonstrate that this investment will benefit the United States economy and create the requisite number of full-time jobs for qualified persons within the United States.

In general, "eligible individuals" include those:

Who establish a new commercial enterprise by:

1. creating an original business;
2. purchasing an existing business and simultaneously or subsequently restructuring or reorganizing the business such that a new commercial enterprise results; or
3. expanding an existing business by 140 percent of the pre-investment number of jobs or net worth, or retaining all existing jobs in a troubled business that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months; and

Who have invested -- or who are actively in the process of investing -- in a new commercial enterprise:

1. at least $1,000,000, or
2. at least $500,000 where the investment is being made in a "targeted employment area," which is an area that has experienced unemployment of at least 150 per cent of the national average rate or a rural area as designated by OMB; and

Whose engagement in a new commercial enterprise will benefit the United States economy and:

1. create full-time employment for not fewer than 10 qualified individuals; or
2. maintain the number of existing employees at no less than the pre-investment level for a period of at least two years, where the capital investment is being made in a "troubled business," which is a business that has been in existence for at least two years and that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months.

How Do I...
...Seek Status as an Immigrant Investor

In order to seek status as an immigrant investor, you must file CIS Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur. The Form I-526 must be filed with supporting documentation which clearly demonstrates that the individual’s investment meets all requirements, such as:

1. establishing a new commercial enterprise,
2. investing the requisite capital amount,
3. proving the investment comes from a lawful source of funds,
4. creating the requisite number of jobs,
5. demonstrating that the investor is actively participating in the business; and, where applicable,
6. reating employment within a targeted employment area.
   

...Become a Permanent Resident Based on Investment

In order to become a lawful permanent resident, eligible investors must file a CIS Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions. Form I-829 must be filed within 90 days before the second anniversary of an Alien Investor’s admission to the United States as a conditional resident.