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E Visa: Traders and Investors

Visa L-1 Ejecutivos, Gerentes  o Técnicos con conocimientos especializados

Overview

The E nonimmigrant visa category is reserved for nationals of countries that have treaties of friendship, commerce and navigation or bilateral investment treaties with the U.S. Nationals of treaty countries may enter the U.S. in E status if they fall into one of two subcategories: (1) as a treaty trader if he or she seeks admission solely to carry on substantial trade, including trade in services or technology, between the U.S. and the foreign state of which he or she is a national (E-1 status); or 2) as a treaty investor if he or she is coming into the U.S. to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which he or she has invested, or of an enterprise in which he or she is actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital (E-2 status).

Nationality

The treaty trader and the treaty investor can be either an individual or a business entity. The treaty trader or investor must, whether an individual or business entity or employee thereof, possess the nationality of the treaty country.

The nationality of a business entity is determined by the nationality of the individual owners of the business. To qualify for E status, at least 50% of the business entity must be owned by nationals of the treaty country. For a corporation, the nationality is determined by the nationalities of the stockholders or, if a publicly traded corporation, where the stock is traded. If an investing entity is owned by another business, then the nationality of ownership must be traced to the owners of the ultimate parent company.

Advantages of E Visa

E-1 TREATY TRADER DEFINITIONS

Essential Elements. The treaty trader visa is set aside for firms or individuals who develop and carry on substantial trade between the U.S. and the treaty country. Once the existence of a treaty and nationality test have been met, the essential elements of an E-1 case  are:

E-2 TREATY INVESTOR DEFINITIONS

Essential Elements. For the E-2 Treaty Investor category, there are five main requirements once the existence of a treaty and nationality tests have been met:

Employer Requirements. An employer in the U.S. needs to satisfy several requirements in order to bring an employee into the U.S. as an E-1 or E-2 treaty employee:

Employee Requirement. The employee must be engaged in executive or supervisory duties or have special qualifications that make the employee's services essential to the efficient operation of the enterprise. The consular officer will look to several factors in determining if the skills are specialized and essential: