E-2 granted yesterday

[Craney]

Hi all,
I thought i'd let you all know that yesterday we attended the London Embassy and were granted our E-2 visas for 2 years. Ours was a dual E-2 application with my Mum and I as 50-50 owners.
I will update our experience later on, but wanted to let you know the outcome - and more importantly for those waiting, like Gaz, that Glen really is a nice guy, who wants to give you your visa! Our VA had painted a poor picture of him as a person, but we found him to be so normal, down to earth and friendly it was a pleasure.
We own a lawn care company (and have done since May) and will live in Winter Garden.
I'll update more later.
Craney

[kirtida8]

Congratulations Craney. Great news. When will you be coming over?

[SHEILA 13]

Well done

[Peter Dexter]

Congratulations!!

[lorraine]

:) :tu: Congratulations to you:D

[anniemm]

congratulations, glad your experience was a good one :)

[peter gold]

Craney
Well done and good luck.
I always said you would be ok A well put together appplication complying with the rules as they are applying them and you are granted what you want

[Carl]

Well done and welcome to America.

[Craney]

Thank you all for you congratulations, Peter, you have spoken very wisely!
Here is a run down of our circumstances as promised;

After looking for a suitable business to buy for over 18 mths, and finding no owner willing to wait for the then lengthy visa waiting times, we took a huge gamble and bought a business in may 07, which we believed met every criteria necessary for E-2 Approval. We have since had 2 managers running it for us while we waited for our E-2 interview date. Our application was submitted at the end of July, and we got notified at the end of October of our december interview date. Ours, was a dual application - with myself and my mother being 50/50 owners.

We had a meeting with our VA who discussed our application, saying that she was very happy with our own work, business plan and detail that had been supplied. She then frightened the pants off of my Mum and i, telling us that Glen Davis was an ogre, and it was clear that she was not fond of him. She basically said that the interview was a make or break and we'd better hope we get Mr Davis on a good day! My Mum was as pale as anything!

We then got our date and got to the Embassy at 6.50am for an 8am appointment - first in the queue. The gates opened at 7.30 and in we went.
We had our meeting with Mr Davis at about 11am, which lasted about 20 mins. He spoke briefly to each of us individually (Mum, Dad, Lisa and I) about what we do for a living and what we intend to do out there, then he spoke to Mum and I about the business. He asked questions on wages, employees and looked at the profit and loss. He wanted to know what our roles were to be and why we needed to perform them as we currently have 2 managers coping.

He then told us we met the criteria and he was giving us our visas.
From the moment we reached the window, Mr Davis was very pleasant, polite and tried to make us feel at ease. He was not at all unpleasant, and to be honest, we had expected much more of a grilling. We had done our research, had more than enough paperwork with us, knew our business, but didn't have to do too much as the interview was considerably tamer than expected!!!

Our business runs out of Apopka, but stretches from Winter Garden right up to Sanford. We will be living in Winter Garden off CR535 and are flying out between Christmas and the new year. We hope to meet up with a lot of you then.

Finally, a big thank you to all contributors to this forum, it really is invaluable, if not a bit scary at times!

Best wishes for christmas

Steve and Lisa

[peter gold]

Steve and Lisa
These tips are for you and all to read if they help.
Second you are off plane go to Department of Soc Sec and aply for the ss numbers and then ead if applicable.
Bring your medical records ( if you have a good health history) G.P will copy after you sign a form. It helps with health insurance.
Bring some driving insurance records it helps for insurance.
Get a UK credit report printed out.
Get as many credit cards as you can here and pay them off every month to build up credit.
If you can get a loan for any major purchases e.g. cars to build credit and if they say no credit as you have no record then move on to another dealer as they will give you.
Avoid using cash get credit it will help.
As you go into your business remember you are only 20-22 months off a renewal as you apply before the 2 years are up, so follow the business plan as filed as it will come back to bite you if you do not. Expand and employ
if you can. Make sure your lease is renewed and current and make $$$$$$$.
It is even better news to hear a grant of a 50/50 investment in a lanscape lawn business
If ever you are over the west coast near Sarasota we would be happy to meet you

[DEE F]

Good advice Peter.

Dee x

[davidmartin_uk]

Make sure you apply for you ss numbers together. From reading this forum and what happened to us many ss offices do no (or will not) understand when both people have the e2. They started asking us for EAD's which was wrong, saying my wife couldn't have an ss number etc etc. The mistake they made was when I went in to get my ss number they put me in as a principle which completely mucked it up when my wife went in. In the end I got my Visa Lawyer in London to write the office a letter stating that we both had e2's. You know what happened? Within 24 hours my wife’s ss number was delivered by hand to our business with a massive apology! Peter is right. Without that number you cannot do anything.

You should also apply form you TINs (tax numbers) and if you haven't already your EIN's (employment tax numbers ) for your business.

US Health insurance companies like to see no break in coverage. So either get insurance the minute you step off the plane or I used a company from the UK called downunder insurance. They are one of the few that will insure you when you are leaving the UK and staying at your destination. My advice is to get at least 2 months. It will give you plenty of time to find a decent US policy (if they exist!!!) If you have any sort of pre condition Peter is correct. Take as much info as you can. I take Statins for a slightly elevated Cholesterol level. I didn’t have my Cholesterol levels with me and ended up having to pay $500 to have it tested.

Dave

[Sharon]

Hi all,
I thought i'd let you all know that yesterday we attended the London Embassy and were granted our E-2 visas for 2 years. Ours was a dual E-2 application with my Mum and I as 50-50 owners.
I will update our experience later on, but wanted to let you know the outcome - and more importantly for those waiting, like Gaz, that Glen really is a nice guy, who wants to give you your visa! Our VA had painted a poor picture of him as a person, but we found him to be so normal, down to earth and friendly it was a pleasure.
We own a lawn care company (and have done since May) and will live in Winter Garden.
I'll update more later.
Craney

Thats wonderful news well done :)

[mandybenn]

Hi

Fantastic news Craney!! We were at the Embassy on Monday but our L1 has been sent for further administration (god knows how long that will take).

Our experience was a little disappointing. We expected to be 'grilled' but were just asked 3 Q's
* What are we buying?
* How many employees do we have?
* Who would be looking after our Company in the U.K?

The guy (I didn't catch his name) didn't even read any of our doc's. It made me feel like he had decided we were not getting the Visa, especially when he gave our passports back.

We are also buying a Lawn Care Company but are not selling up in the U.K. As our L1 renewal is Oct 31st 2008 we didn't think it wise to sell our home and move our Teenagers with such uncertainty (this website made us more cautious). It's a good job the existing owner of the Company isn't in a rush to sell.

Well Craney! If we are successful we shall have to compare notes and help each other won't we? :hug:

Good Luck and enjoy Christmas in the U.S

Mandy

[Susie]

Thanks good news and must be such weight off your minds, now you have had your holiday, welcome to America and the real meaning of the world of work :)

[Craney]

Thanks again everyone, we'll definitely heed the advice. Mandy, when you get over give us a call and we'll compare notes!

Craney

[gazza_tyler]

Well done, its good to hear all went well....we are there 10th jan so fingers crossed,

One question where in winter Garden are you going to be we are off 535 on Black Lake sub-division are you near ?

[Grumpy]

well done Craney and good luck to Gazza

[Craney]

Sent you an e-mail Gazza - good luck!

[maddy]

Hi all,
I thought i'd let you all know that yesterday we attended the London Embassy and were granted our E-2 visas for 2 years. Ours was a dual E-2 application with my Mum and I as 50-50 owners.
I will update our experience later on, but wanted to let you know the outcome - and more importantly for those waiting, like Gaz, that Glen really is a nice guy, who wants to give you your visa! Our VA had painted a poor picture of him as a person, but we found him to be so normal, down to earth and friendly it was a pleasure.
We own a lawn care company (and have done since May) and will live in Winter Garden.
I'll update more later.
Craney

Congratulations Craney.
Can I just ask you what evidence you produced to the Embassy that showed where your joint funds came from? I ask this because one of my daughters was recently refused her E2 because of lack of such evidence.
Thanks,
Maddy

[Bern]

Congrats Craney !!!! All go from here on in....

[Craney]

Congratulations Craney.
Can I just ask you what evidence you produced to the Embassy that showed where your joint funds came from? I ask this because one of my daughters was recently refused her E2 because of lack of such evidence.
Thanks,
Maddy


Maddy,
We had a money trail for my parents from an inheritance they received, and we had re-mortgage documents and bank statements showing where the money had come from and gone to. We supplied a seperate sheet with a 'simplified' breakdown, as i'm positive the Embassy don't get time to look at each case thoroughly. They just skim and get a rough idea and then formulate a decision from this.
It is a nightmare really. we even produced the will and testament for the inheritance, but it really is difficult to make the dates add up perfectly as money trails don't always show a complete picture. We just felt that we had to show and present it as best we could and have answers for the inevitable questions.

Can she, or is she, in the process of re-applying, i'd be intersted how this works? It seems such a shame to be refused because of this.

Craney

[maddy]

Maddy,
We had a money trail for my parents from an inheritance they received, and we had re-mortgage documents and bank statements showing where the money had come from and gone to. We supplied a seperate sheet with a 'simplified' breakdown, as i'm positive the Embassy don't get time to look at each case thoroughly. They just skim and get a rough idea and then formulate a decision from this.
It is a nightmare really. we even produced the will and testament for the inheritance, but it really is difficult to make the dates add up perfectly as money trails don't always show a complete picture. We just felt that we had to show and present it as best we could and have answers for the inevitable questions.

Can she, or is she, in the process of re-applying, i'd be intersted how this works? It seems such a shame to be refused because of this.

Hi Craney,
Thanks for the interesting info. I sought advise from the very knowledgeable people on this site and went with their suggestion - wrote a letter to the Chief Non-Immigrant Officer at the US Embassy in London. I did this because there were more issues in my daughter's refusal that I wanted answered (see thread Right to Appeal a Denied Visa) and re-submission is, for various reasons, not on the agenda at the moment. I'll post if / when we get any news.

Craney