(Below is a transcription of this video)
Hi. My name is Michael Niren. I’m an immigration lawyer and founder of visaplace.com. Today I’m going to talk to you about businesses who are interested in expanding in the United States.
Expanding Your Business into the US Through a L1 Visa
We have a dedicated U.S. visa team who specialize in processing all types of U.S. visas, including representing businesses that wish to expand into the United States. And generally speaking there are two main ways that our office helps business do this. One is through the L1 visa process. Now the L1 visa process is for businesses that want to expand into the United States, establishing either a branch office, and affiliate office, or subsidiary of their business outside the United States. For example, if you’re a Canadian citizen and you have a business in Canada and you wish to expand it and create an affiliate, you may be eligible for an L1.
L1 Visa Criteria
Now an L1 is typically issued to individuals who work for the company, either as an executive, a manager, or a person of specialized knowledge. And there’s certain criteria that has to be followed in order to qualify. So for example, if you are a manager, you’ve worked for your Canadian company, in this case we’re talking about Canada, and you have worked there for a year or longer and your company wants to expand into the United States and they want to transfer you to set up a new office or work in an established office, as a manager you may qualify. There’s also what is called blanket L1’s which cover a lot of employees who potentially wish to be transferred at once. So those are usually applicable to larger companies.
E2 Option for Expanding Your Business into the US
Now the other way, in addition to the L1, is what we call an E2 visa. This is for individuals who don’t necessarily have a business in Canada or who don’t want to necessarily expand their business into the United States, but who want to invest in a business either that exists or start up a business and an E2 visa could be appropriate in that case. Now an E2 visa requires what we call a substantial investment, usually in the range of $100,000. In some cases it could be less, where the individual will have to commit funds to that business and you have to prove that those funds are committed towards that business. Now in order to qualify for an E2 visa, you have to be a member or a citizen of what we call a treaty country.
For example, a country that has a treaty with the United States would be Canada would obviously be one. Places like Pakistan, there’re other countries as well. There’s a list of E2 treaty countries. You can go to our website to check that out. So the E2 visa could be very helpful for those kinds of individuals who wish to establish a business. Now they’re usually issued for a 5-year period, which is a good amount of time. You can always extend it. And if your business is successful enough there’s also the possibility you could apply for a green card base on the success of your E2 visa.
Are You Interested in Expanding Your Business into the US?
Generally speaking, there are two main types of visas that are applicable for businesses that wish to expand into the United States, or individuals who want to establish a business in the United States, and that’s the L1 visa and the E2 visa. So I hope this will give you some overview, an idea of what is involved and what options are available. So if you have more questions, if you’d like to contact us, please do so. Our website is www.visaplace.com and we’ll be happy to help you expand.
Contact our experienced team today, and let us help you with your L1 or E2 visa application.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
