Investment Visas
Investors looking to immigrate to the United States and start a new business have a few options to choose from.
EB-5 Investor Immigration Program: An investment of $900,000 in a targeted employment area, or $1,800,000 in a high employment area, can lead to a green card. A targeted employment area is a rural area or an area that has at least 150% of the national average unemployment rate. The investment must be able to create at least 10 full time positions for a U.S. Citizen, LPR, or other immigrant authorized to work in the U.S.
E-2 Investment: An investment of as little as $100,000, or less, depending on the proposed business, can lead to a work visa. These visas are usually issued to managers, executives, or investors for five years and renewable indefinitely. An investor must show the viability of the new business venture through a business plan or a purchase of a new business.
L1 Visa: A work visa that can be used as a start up in the United States for a maximum of seven years. Note that after one successful year in the U.S., it is possible for the applicant to apply for a green card. A Manager or executive of a foreign company is transferring to an existing or start up company in the United States to manage the U.S. based company. The requirement is that the individual must have worked at least of year of the last three years for an affiliated company abroad before immigrating to the United States to manage the affiliated U.S. based company. It is best if the foreign company has been running as a company in its foreign country for several years, have at least five employees, is able to show several years of taxes and employment records, and has an established office in the U.S. where it will be doing its business.
International Entrepreneur Program: The Department of Homeland Security can use its parole authority to grant a foreign entrepreneur, on a case-by-case basis, an authorized period of stay in the United States if they can show that their stay in the U.S. would provide a significant public benefit through the potential for rapid business growth and job creation. The Parole may be granted for up to 3 entrepreneurs per start up company. These entrepreneurs will be authorized to work. This program is best suited for those investors who have a history fo successful investing who do NOT have either L-1 or E-2 prospects, who for example do not have any company ties at home.
Permanent Employment-Based Visas
Immigrants who acquired lawful permanent resident (LPR) status through employment may apply for U.S. citizenship after five years. Business interests matter a great deal to immigrants coming to the United States. According to a study from the Pew Research Center, around 29 million immigrants were working or looking for work in the U.S. in 2017. That accounts for 17% of the entire American workforce. We have extensive experience in business & employment immigration.
The adjustment of status to permanent residency based on employment generally involves a three-step process:
First, employers seeking to petition on behalf of foreign workers are commonly required to obtain certification from the Department of Labor (DOL), establishing that there are no U.S. workers available, willing, and qualified to fill the position at a wage that is equal to or greater than the prevailing wage generally paid for that occupation in the geographic area where the position is located.
Second, the employer is required to petition U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the foreign worker.
Third, a foreign worker who is already in the United States in a temporary visa classification may apply for “adjustment of status” to permanent residence upon the approval of the employer’s petition. If these conditions have been met and the individual is outside the United States or is in the United States but chooses to apply for an immigrant visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad, the individual files an immigrant visa application, which is processed by a U.S. consular officer.
The overall numerical limit for permanent employment-based immigration is 140,000 per year. This number includes not only the immigrants themselves, but their eligible spouses and minor children as well. Moreover, the 140,000 visas are divided among five preference categories, each of which is subject to its own numerical cap. This employment based (EB) “preference immigrant” categories include:
First preference (EB-1) – priority workers, Aliens with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; Outstanding professors and researchers; or Certain multinational managers and executives.
- There is a numerical yearly limit of 40,000 or 28.6%
- Plus, any unused visas from the 4th and 5th preference
Second preference (EB-2) – aliens who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or who have exceptional ability (including requests for national interest waivers).
- There is a numerical yearly limit of 40,000 or 28.6%
- Plus, any unused visas from the 1st preference
Third preference (EB-3) – skilled workers, professionals, or other workers.
- There is a numerical yearly limit of 40,000 or 28.6%
- For the “other workers” that are unskilled laborers, those visas are restricted to only 5,000
- Plus, any unused visas from the 1st and 2nd preference
Fourth preference (EB-4) – special immigrant: religious workers, special immigrant juveniles, certain broadcasters, certain retired officers/employees of a G-4 international organization or NATO-6 civilian employees and their family members, certain employees of the US government who are abroad and their family, members of the US armed forces, Panama Canal company or Canal Zone government employees, certain physicians licensed and practicing medicine in the US as of Jan. 9, 1978, Afghan or Iraqi translators or interpreters, Iraqis who were employed by or on behalf of the US government and Afghans who were employed by the US government or International Security Assistance Force.
- There is a numerical yearly limit of 9,940 or 7.1%
Fifth preference (EB-5) – aliens who have invested or are actively in the process of investing $1 million (or $500,000 in targeted employment areas) in a new commercial enterprise that will benefit the U.S. economy and create at least 10 full-time positions for qualifying employees.
- There is a numerical yearly limit of 9,940 or 7.1%