E VISA - TREATY TRADER/TREATY INVESTOR

E visas are available to citizens of certain countries, with whom the United States has appropriate treaties or other bilateral agreements ("Treaty Country"). There is no limit as to how long you can remain in the United States in E status but you must renew that status every 2 to 5 years. The E visa category is broken down into E-1 Treaty Trader visa and E-2 Treaty Investor visa.

To qualify for either E-1 Treaty Trader or E-2 Treaty Investor status, the applicant must be a foreign national of the Treaty Country. An alien employee of a treaty trader may be classified E-1 and an alien employee of a treaty investor may be classified E-2, if the employee is in or is coming to the United States to engage in duties of an executive or supervisory character, or, if employed in lesser capacity, the employee has special qualifications that make the services to be rendered essential to the efficient operation of the enterprise.

Employees of treaty traders and treaty investors seeking E status must also have the same nationality as the employer. The nationality of a business is determined by the nationality of the individual owners of that business. A business that is at least 50% owned by nationals of the relevant Treaty Country will be eligible for E status.

The E-1 Treaty Trader visa is available to enterprises engaged in trade wit the United States. Treaty traders must be entering the Unites States solely to carry on trade of a substantial nature, whish is international in scope, principally between the United States and the Treaty Country.

The E-2 Treaty Investor visa is available to nationals of the Treaty Country who are engaging in investment in the United States. The investor must show that she has invested or is actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital in a viable and operating commercial enterprise, other than a marginal enterprise which provides only enough income to earn a living for the investor and his/her dependents.