In this introductory writing, you will read about E-2 visas, listed under Treaty Trader & Investor Visas. Designed for the development and cooperation between the U.S. and various other countries’ commerce and navigation investments and initiatives, E-2 visas provide business gurus and visionaries with the necessary legal non-immigrant status to achieve their financial and career goals.
What Exactly Is E-2 Visa?
Simply put, E-2 visa relates to the latter part of Treaty Trader & Investor Visas. It is offered to investing companies, partnerships and individuals who are either owners, directors and extraordinarily skilled workers. It requires both you, your partner(s) (if there is any), and your company (if you are an employee of one) to be promising enough to contribute to the US economy and strengthen the financial cooperation between both parties. Even though the selection process is meticulously regulated and may be tedious for applicants at times, overwhelming majority of applications get accepted!
What About the Requirements for Application?
- First and foremost, whether you are a corporate entity, partnership, or individual, you have to be a national of one of the treaty countries. (Dual nationalities accepted). To find out whether your country is on the treaty list or not, please follow this link.
- If you do not hold nationality from one of the treaty countries, you can still apply for an E-2 visa via the citizenship-through-investment program which requires you to invest as little as 200.000 $.
- If the applicant is a corporate entity, at least half of the business must be owned by individuals of the treaty country’s nationality.
- The capital spared for investment must be substantial to ensure the sustainability of the business. Therefore, any investment funds and assets must be fully committed and irrevocable.
- The investment at hand has to be active, operating one. A concept entity and abstract paper enterprise would not be viable for consideration. Funds that are risk-free and regulated by security measures of a certain bank are not considered investments.
- our investment is required to produce significantly more income than the one which would solely afford you and your family’s living, or it must greatly benefit the US economy.
- You are expected to have full control over your investment funds. Loans cannot be secured with assets of your investment enterprise.
- Only the people who are either the developer or the director of the enterprise can apply for the E-2 visa. Exceptions would be possible in the case of an applicant deemed to be essential work for the investment with executive and supervisory roles, or with exceptional abilities.
Immediate Family Eligibility for Application
Only your spouse (same-sex marriages included if your home country authorizes one) and unmarried children under the age of 21 can apply to accompany you, or reside with you temporarily.
Duration of Your Stay
The duration of your stay as well as the number of entries vary by treaty country and it ranges from 3 months to 5 years. To learn more about these details please refer to the US embassy of your home country. You can search for official US embassies through this link.
How to Apply
The processes of application vary by treaty country. Please refer to the U.S. embassy of your home country to have the clearest instructions as to how to apply for an E-2 visa. You can use this link again, to reach your U.S. embassy. However, there are commonly required steps which details you can find below:
- Firstly, you must fill out the online application form, form DS-160, and print out the document before coming to your interview.
- You are required to upload your photo while filling out your DS-160 application form which details you can find here.
- After filling out your online application form, you are expected to schedule an interview. Applicants under the age of 13 and above the age of 80 are not usually required for an interview. However, there may be some exceptions to this with regard to the discretion of your consular officer.
Wait time for the interview varies by treaty country as well. You can search for your home country’s interview wait time using this link. Furthermore, you may be required to pay an online application fee, depending on the treaty country you apply from. To learn more about it, you can refer to this link.
Preparing for Your Interview: What You Must Make Ready?
- A valid passport for travel to the US. It must be valid for at least six months beyond your stay in the U.S.
- Your DS-160 online application confirmation page.
- Application fee payment receipt, if it is required for your treaty country to pay an application fee.
- If the upload of your photo fails during your filling out the DS-160 application form, you must bring a print of your photo in the same format as your online upload.
- DS-156E, Nonimmigrant Treaty Trader/Treaty Investor application form. This is required for applicants for executive, manager, and essential employee positions.
Additional documents may be required depending on your treaty country. For more information about this, please refer to this link again.
Additional Information
- If you are awarded a visa, you may be required to pay a visa issuance fee depending on your treaty country. The processing time of your visa may vary. To learn more about visa processing and when your visa might be delivered to you, please use this link.
- You may apply for an extension for your visa beyond the date indicated on your I-94 form. This form is provided to you by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBS) officials upon your entry to the US. Read more about extending your stay on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
- While in the U.S., you can request a change in your nonimmigrant status to switch to another category. Learn more about requesting a change of status on the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.
