Benefit of E-2 Visa

E-2 visa is a working visa for Japanese individuals to come to the United States to operate his or her company. There is no requirement for the Japanese individual to have a company in Japan. There is no requirement for the Japanese individual to have experience in the business he or she is going to operate in the United States.

Although Japanese can also apply for L-1A visa to come to the United States, the requirement for L-1A visa is much more than E-2. In order to get L-1A visa, the Japanese individual will have to have a company in Japan, have worked at that company for at least one year on full time basis in the past three years. The Japanese individual will have to prove to the U.S. government that he or she has expertise in the business that he or she is going to operate in the United States.

By getting the E-2 visa, such Japanese individual will be able to bring his or her family member to the United States under E-2 dependant visa. This include the spouse and children under the age of 21.

Due to the environment problem and current economy situation in Japan, more and more Japanese wants to have their children attend school in the United States as a part of education planning for their children. However, it would be very difficult for minor children to be able to obtain the F-1 visa to attend elementary school or high school in the United States. The usual process is for the parents to send those children to the private boarding school in the United States and have their children to obtain F-1 student to study in the private boarding school as international students. The F-1 application process is usually for Japanese to come to the United States to obtain college or higher education. As the result, it is very difficult for the Japanese parents to obtain the F-1 visa for their children in order for their children to attend the private boarding school in the United States.

One of the alternative ways for the children to attend school here in the United States is the E-2 visa. The Japanese parent can establish a company in the United States, and invest money into the company. In order for the Japanese parent to be able to come to the United States to operate this invested business, Japanese parent can apply for E-2 visa, and at the same time, the Japanese parent can apply for E-2 dependent visa for his or her child or children. By having such E-2 dependent visa, a child can be enrolled in the local public school system. This way, it saves a lot of money for the parent to have child study in the United States, and at the same time, a child will have the option to either study in private school or in public school.

At the same time, parents of these children might want to invest in the United States by purchasing the house here. The housing market in the United States is very attractive to Japanese investors for two reasons. First, the Japanese Yen is very high to the dollar. Second, the U.S. housing market has been deeply depressed in the past few years, and is close to the bottom.

If you have any questions regarding the process of such E-2 visa application or investment into the United States, please contact us for details.