Advice for those looking into E2 visa

[davidmartin_uk]

Hi

Thought I would put down some advice for anyone starting off on the E2 process. Could be a good start for anyone looking to go to USE via this route. This is only my experience and I fully realize that there are others who have had success using a different route.

1. Do the e2 properly. Do not go B2 – E2 change status or even worse buy business on VWP and put kids in school! Don’t believe anything you hear about getting the visa from Belfast, Bemuda etc etc. Apply to London and wait.

There can be problems with other foreign Nationals beating you to business especially in Florida but remember there are 49 other mainland states many with the same great outdoor life. Also being in a position to buy a business 6-8 months in the future may well put you at an advantage. There are many sellers out there who want to get one ‘last good season’ out of there business whether it be summer or winter.

2 Use a London VA. I have read on other forums the terrible advice that some people are still getting and terrible service. Yes there are really good VA’s in US but many many bad ones. The London VA’s are more in tune with what is going on at the embassy. They are the ones that are being asked for feedback regarding the streamlining of renewals. They may be more expensive but I think it is worth it.

For the records this is what we got for our money

• Face to face Initial consolation
• Full e-mail and telephone support while in USA on buying trip with 24 hour turnaround. This was invaluable as anything we found that looked interesting could be vetted by VA first and then we could be told to proceed to get more info or not. Offer was put togtehr with their backing and support
• Putting together and filing of application. Our application was complicated and was pitched by the VA in its most favorable light. Something we would not have done if we would have done it ourselves
• Briefing in London 1 week before interview
• Checking of Visa and acceptance letter when it arrived

That cost around £4000. Less that 1% of total project.

That’s it. My 2 pieces of advice for what they are worth!

Dave

[OberonSH]

Hi David,

Could you perhaps give everyone an idea of the timescales you worked on, the sort of business etc. Where there any 'golden tips' your VA gave you that you could pass on?

[davidmartin_uk]

Hi

We originally were looking for a B&B or large motel the whole of the eastern seaboard from Pennsylvania to Maine was in our area. Out route took us to Up State New York around Cooperstown. We stayed there for around 2 weeks but found nothing that could give both the marginality and employees criteria a good tick. Everything we looked at was sent back to our VA who gave us a yes or no. He was pretty conservative in his views (which turned out to be a good thing). It was while we were in Cooperstown that the idea was conceived of setting up an umbrella corporation and perhaps buying a small shop as well as the B&B. We then followed a link on the web to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. A place we had visited before and liked. Again didn’t find anything for sale in the B&B line that was right.

At that time the Gas station came on the market again as a sale had just fallen through. Only trouble was it came with quite a large amount of real estate (and price tag) The IRS returns didn’t look good because the owner charged himself a large rent and this was taxed at a personal level. Our VA didn’t like this and said it wouldn’t count and said the embassy would think we were just buying the real estate (for another reason) because it looked like the gas station made very little money. I can vouch for this as Glen last week at the embassy looked straight at the bottom line figure on the tax return and didn’t look at the P&L which quite clearly showed the rent coming in.. So we again had to look for another small business to bump the application up. Found a small shop with owner benefit of around $50,000 with a manager and a worker already there so that was it.

With both business’s we got the official owner benefit up to a good level and we had 3.5 official employees.

As far as time is concerned I would say allow more time for your due diligence and to get the application together. There is going to be something difficult to find in each business. For us the Oil company that had owned the Gas station before the previous owners had first refusal as those people had got a mortgage from them. They had 50 days or something like that and took every one! We couldn’t really move ahead until they had done that.

Get as much done as you can while you are there including getting of the w2’s accounts, leases etc etc etc. Its much easier to get this stuff when you are in USA and pestering.

Total time from submission on Nov 1 to Interview 32 weeks.

But total time from signing the contract to buy and the granting of the visa more like 40 weeks.

The total time from signing to closing will be a massive 48 weeks. There is no way the sellers would have signed if they had known it would take that long. Even though you may know how long things are going to take PUT A POSITIVE SPIN ON IT!!!!

Very lucky for both sellers to hang on. A mixture of bluffing from ourselves and our VA and a poor selling climate in USA helped!!

david

[peter gold]

david
Great posts. This is the sort of postings to be encouraged.
Thanks for taking the effort.
You say got a "face to face consolation". Did you really mean that?:confused:
Sometimes a local visa immigration attorney is worth using as they can set up a corp for you, get a tax number ect before you get your soc sec number, and often have local knowlegde of the business.
I am not knocking any visa attorney as long as we get the message out DO NOT USE VISA CONSULTANTS USE LICENSED IMMIGRATION VISA ATTORNEYS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF AILA.

[kirtida8]

Yes I agree, great posts with sound advice for anyone wishing to go down the minefield laden path to an E-2 :tu:

[davidmartin_uk]

well spotted peter

'face to face consultation'

Dave

[peter gold]

David
Keep us "posted" with your progress as we are not just Floirda based and encourage relocation and posts about other States.
I am always keen to know good VA"s out of Florida as I often am asked to recommend and like to be able to help.
Please pm the name and contact details.

[Susie]

Thanks David for sharing your progressm, well written and nice and clear

The only point I have reservations about is the fact you chose a UK vias attorney.

Was your UK an attorney or visa specialist as there is a vast difference? Also if he/she was an attorney are they a member of any USA bar assn and aila?

[InnVic]

...just for others reading here don't be too put off B&B's if on first inspection the profits look marginal. Most are run by US citizens as a 'tax minimizer" You can live almost free of charge (business pays your accommodation, food, heat, vehicle, phone etc...) Look beyond the bottom line at owner benefit and if that stacks up you should be okay. I know several couples either in VT or NH who have successfully got E2 (since Meg!) So long as your business is in a 4 seasons area and you have the rooms and daily rate which when performing at average occupancy can give you a reasonable profit you should be okay.

[davidmartin_uk]

I do agree with Innvic. Just at the time of our buying trip there was nothing around. Since we have come back we have seen a couple of listings that certainly looked much more promising. Its just luck really what is available when you go over.

As regards choice of VA the ones we used are the only solicitors in the UK that specialise in US immigration. They are members of the AILA. You have to remember that we were going out to look in areas where immigration expertise would be very limited to the big cities perhaps many miles away. It was important for us to go on the buying trip with the VA already set up etc. The situation in Florida is obviously very different with many VA’s offering services. Just pick only from personal recommendation. There are a lot of really bad VA’s out there who will gladly take your money and offer very little in the way of service and redress when things go wrong!!!

Dave