3 ms·

I'm surprised no-one mentioned the E-2 (Treaty Investor) visa. It allows someone from a Treaty country (which includes a lot of developed countries) to start a

by mdda 13y ago

I'm surprised no-one mentioned the E-2 (Treaty Investor) visa. It allows someone from a Treaty country (which includes a lot of developed countries) to start a business in the USA. It's not an intent visa, though (more on that later). I'm from the UK, and did the E-2 application myself (having found that it took as much time to explain to a lawyer as to write the application). My initial investment was $100k (enough to start a software business, provably). I have been renewing that visa since 1999, while living in NYC. Now, however (partly to do with having a 3-year-old), I've moved with my family to Singapore. Visa process took 3 days, and is valid for 12months (and a 12month extension will be very doable, apparently). One aspect of the Green Card process (which is, I believe, somewhat achievable even starting on a E-2, is that you get caught in the US tax regime semi-permanently. Which is taxation on world-wide income. That would make moving to another country relatively painful (and that's partly why there are so few Americans in Singapore : there's no tax advantage to them). Happy to answer any questions.

cookrn 13y ago
I mentioned this treaty in another comment, but are the advantages of the E-2 similar in nature for non-Americans to the those afforded to Americans by the DAFT[1]? Is the E-2 only applicable for citizens of countries that have a specific treaty in place? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT_(treaty) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT_(treaty)
- mdda 13y ago
  The Treaty country list for the USA : [1] The US E-2 is similar to the (into Netherlands) DAFT, except for the fact that the US doesn't allow for the 'sole entrepreneur' option : You need to fund a business with the plan to employ Americans. [1] http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/treaty.html http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/treaty.ht...
thelonelygod 13y ago
My parents moved my entire family here on a h1 when I was younger. We obtained our Green Cards about 5 years ago. I'm about to graduated college and go start working in NYC. My parents are currently starting the process to get citizenship and I'm choosing not to do it mainly because I'm not sure if I want to stay in the country for the rest of my life and didn't want to be stuck in the US tax abroad issue. You mentioned that getting a green card does in fact put you into the US tax regime semi-permanently. Do you have any links or more information about that?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- mahyarm 13y ago
  People with green cards or citizenship are subject to the same unique worldwide citizenship-based taxation scheme that the US has. You will have to revoke your green card anyway to escape it so I would just get the citizenship since you can renounce it later with a somewhat more involved process. You can be subject to an exit tax if your 'rich enough' when you revoke your green card or citizenship. Something like $150k annual income for 5+ years or $2+ million in assets. Research it yourself, etc.
ricardonunez 13y ago
How the E-2 renewal process work? I have a friend considering E-2 with $50k to $100k, and his concern is how bad the renewal process is.
- mdda 13y ago
  It's not worse than the initial application. One crazy thing is : They force you to renew at the Embassy in your home country, in person. So, once your application is in, they give you a date to turn up. But they won't give you any time-line about when they'll send your passport back (with the visa). So you can't really book a cheap return flight. i.e. in order to be the person in charge of a new business in the States, they require you to periodically leave the States for an indeterminate time, and sit in your home country (which is potentially just dead time business-wise). OTOH, I have found that (i) having prepared the paperwork myself, (ii) actually being an entrepreneur, and (iii) having actual real-life experience of running the business to relate : The embassy person is actually interested in hearing about how things are going, and willing to 'relax a little'. I'm guessing that many people turn up with lawyerly papers, which don't really match the lines they are taught to say, and have marginal-to-misleading reasons for wanting the visa. So an actual real deal entrepreneur is a breath of fresh air. My initial visa was 2yrs, followed by a 2yr renewal, the 2x 5yrs. So it gets easier. But was always really tiresome.
  - ricardonunez 13y ago
    Thanks man. Really helpful, did you need to invest more over the years?

by mdda 13y ago

cookrn 13y ago

I mentioned this treaty in another comment, but are the advantages of the E-2 similar in nature for non-Americans to the those afforded to Americans by the DAFT[1]? Is the E-2 only applicable for citizens of countries that have a specific treaty in place? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT_(treaty) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT_(treaty)

mdda 13y ago
The Treaty country list for the USA : [1] The US E-2 is similar to the (into Netherlands) DAFT, except for the fact that the US doesn't allow for the 'sole entrepreneur' option : You need to fund a business with the plan to employ Americans. [1] http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/treaty.html http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/fees/treaty.ht...

thelonelygod 13y ago

My parents moved my entire family here on a h1 when I was younger. We obtained our Green Cards about 5 years ago. I'm about to graduated college and go start working in NYC. My parents are currently starting the process to get citizenship and I'm choosing not to do it mainly because I'm not sure if I want to stay in the country for the rest of my life and didn't want to be stuck in the US tax abroad issue. You mentioned that getting a green card does in fact put you into the US tax regime semi-permanently. Do you have any links or more information about that?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
mahyarm 13y ago
People with green cards or citizenship are subject to the same unique worldwide citizenship-based taxation scheme that the US has. You will have to revoke your green card anyway to escape it so I would just get the citizenship since you can renounce it later with a somewhat more involved process. You can be subject to an exit tax if your 'rich enough' when you revoke your green card or citizenship. Something like $150k annual income for 5+ years or $2+ million in assets. Research it yourself, etc.

ricardonunez 13y ago

How the E-2 renewal process work? I have a friend considering E-2 with $50k to $100k, and his concern is how bad the renewal process is.

mdda 13y ago
It's not worse than the initial application. One crazy thing is : They force you to renew at the Embassy in your home country, in person. So, once your application is in, they give you a date to turn up. But they won't give you any time-line about when they'll send your passport back (with the visa). So you can't really book a cheap return flight. i.e. in order to be the person in charge of a new business in the States, they require you to periodically leave the States for an indeterminate time, and sit in your home country (which is potentially just dead time business-wise). OTOH, I have found that (i) having prepared the paperwork myself, (ii) actually being an entrepreneur, and (iii) having actual real-life experience of running the business to relate : The embassy person is actually interested in hearing about how things are going, and willing to 'relax a little'. I'm guessing that many people turn up with lawyerly papers, which don't really match the lines they are taught to say, and have marginal-to-misleading reasons for wanting the visa. So an actual real deal entrepreneur is a breath of fresh air. My initial visa was 2yrs, followed by a 2yr renewal, the 2x 5yrs. So it gets easier. But was always really tiresome.
- ricardonunez 13y ago
  Thanks man. Really helpful, did you need to invest more over the years?