Non Immigrant Visa Petition

E1/E2

If you are a national of a country with which the United States has a commercial treaty and will enter the United States to solely engage in trade of a substantial nature principally between the United States and your country of nationality, you may be eligible for E-1. The trade involved must be in existence (successfully negotiated contracts binding on all parties) and be an international exchange of items of trade between the United States and a treaty country.

E1 Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible for an E-1 classification, you must demonstrate that:
• You are a national of a country with which the United States has the requisite treaty or agreement
• The trading firm for which you are coming to the United States must have the nationality of the treaty country (At least 50 per cent of the ownership of the company must have the nationality of the treaty country)
• The trade is of a substantial nature (i.e. an amount of trade sufficient to ensure a continuous flow of international trade items between the United States and the treaty country)
• The trade you will conduct is principally trade between the United States and the treaty country of which you are a national (Trade is deemed to be principally between the United States and treaty country when over 50 per cent of the volume of international trade conducted is between the United States and treaty country of your nationality)
• You will be employed in an executive or supervisory capacity, or possess special qualifications that make your services essential to the successful and efficient operation of the enterprise, if you are not the principal trader

The E-2 classification is authorized if you are a national of a country with which the United States has a commercial treaty and you are coming to the United States solely to direct and develop the operations of an enterprise in which you have invested, or are actively involved in the process of investing, a substantial amount of capital. The investment involved must place lawfully acquired, owned and controlled capital at commercial risk with a profit objective, and be subject to loss if the investment fails.

E2 Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible for E-2 classification, you must demonstrate the following:
• You are a national of a country with whom the U.S. has the requisite treaty or agreement
• You (or in the case of an employee of a treaty investor who seeks classification as an E-2, the owner of the treaty enterprise) will direct or develop the enterprise. You must demonstrate that you control the enterprise by showing ownership of at least 50% of the enterprise, by possessing operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device or by other means
• You have invested in or are actively in the process of investing in the enterprise
• The investment is substantial, i.e. sufficient to ensure your financial commitment to the successful operation of the enterprise and big enough to support the likelihood that you will successfully direct and develop the enterprise
• The investment enterprise is not a marginal enterprise
• You will be employed in an executive or supervisory capacity, or possess skills that are highly specialized and essential to the operations of the commercial enterprise, if you are not the principal investor.