
E2 Visa for Startup Founders 101 - funkymusic
http://www.expresslaneventures.com/post/46253612238/e2-visa-for-startup-founders-101
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harrel
I had to apply for an EB5 visa, and since I was opening an office in non-TEA
city, Austin, I have to put over 1 million + expenses for it. I'm still in the
process of making enough to enter here and open a company, but its hard for
people from India. India is not a treaty nation so tech-founders from here
have an extremely hard time entering here to start a business.

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surferbayarea
It's not that hard actually, there are many hacks possible with the current
immigration system. I am a tech founder from India, been in US 10 years and
funded by a top tier valley VC. My green card application has been in progress
forever...So I simply created a LLC and transferred my H1 visa to that. Super
low-cost solution, better/cheaper than getting a green card or E2 or any of
these funky visas. And this isn't just a fluke, a number of people in a
similar situation have applied this hack successfully....

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healthenclave
Good info!! Thanks

Do you have a blog / another way to reach you?

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surferbayarea
surferbayarea@gmail.com

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tosh
Great write-up. Highly appreciated. I hope getting visas for tech founders
will get easier going forward. Until then it's invaluable to be able to talk
to and read from people who've done it before.

Thanks a ton for taking your time to share this.

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jacques_chester
Interesting. I think this will go very well for the US.

As an aside, Australians have access to a H1B alternative, the E-3. The terms
are generous and the quota has never been filled in any year. So if you want
to be an employee of the US startup, tech firm etc, that's one to investigate.

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yupstak
>I think this will go very well for the US.

FYI this visa has existed for over 60 years.

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jacques_chester
I was under the impression it (the E2) was new.

Oh well.

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funkymusic
Thank you for your feedback!

I was dealing with Matthew Schulz at Baker & McKenzie in Palo Alto
(<http://www.bakermckenzie.com/MattSchulz/>) and it worked out pretty well.

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filip01
Thanks a lot! Could you perhaps explain this a bit more in detail:

"The investment has to be made by the people applying for the visa."

Let's say that we're a 2 year old company in a treaty country (EU) with ~$400k
in the bank, founders have ~50% of the company. Not having a US company yet.
Would this situation require some tweaks before applying for a E2 visa?

Also:

"Your employees can also move to the US under this visa."

Under which circumstances can the (EU) employees transfer? The same time frame
as the E2 holder? Would it be sufficient for only one of the two founders to
get the E2 visa and let the other move as an employee?

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funkymusic
In this case you could do a so-called flip bringing your assets from the EU to
the US (contributing cash and assets).

A drawback is everything depends on the main E2 visa holders - as long as this
person holds the visa others can follow; if this person does not hold the visa
any more, all attached immigration permits are gone as well (e.g. if the
company goes out of business you can't stay in the US and look for a job).

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filip01
Great, thanks. Do you know of a more formal way of expressing this "flip"?
(Don't get any good Google hits).

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shimms
It generally is referred to a scrip for scrip rollover (terms may vary based
on your country of jurisdiction).

You're essentially swapping your ownership in the foreign company for the
equivalent ownership in a US company, and the US company becomes the sole
shareholder of the foreign company.

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yupstak
Considering all the annoyance around the startup visa (myself included), this
actually seems like a pretty sweet deal.

Are there any negatives that people might miss? Would love if someone could
field a few questions...

Can you travel in and out of the US as often as you want while on this visa?

What would be the standard criteria for having the visa renewal approved?
Would they need to see revenue growth? Would a stable stream of revenue be
sufficient?

Can you start other companies while on this visa?

Can you invest in other companies on this visa?

If you have existing employees from non-treaty countries, can they come?

While on the visa, can you hire new employees from your home country and get
them visas?

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healthenclave
The only BIG Negative is : The investment has to be made by the people
applying for the visa.

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filip01
What does this mean? That Hans (in this case) needs to be investing his
personal assets in order to get a E2?

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healthenclave
No investor money will do as long as you have > 50%. But it's only a valid
option if you have already started your company in your home country and have
had some funding and incorporated your company in the US.

If you move to the US and get funding from a US VC / Angle then I think it
gets tricky because it says : At least 50% of the investors must be nationals
of the treaty country.

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tn13
Brazil, Russia, India and China are excluded from this visa program which
means more than half of world population is out.

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jwb119
EB5 is the equivalent for those countries as I understand it (I'm not an
immigration attorney though).

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olivercameron
I had one of these visas, and Hans has done a great job of describing the
entire process. If anyone from the UK is looking to get an E2, email me and I
can put you in touch with a great immigration lawyer in London.

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subsystem
I'm curious, approximately how much money are we talking in legal (and other)
fees?

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swohns
Thanks for sharing this, any recommendations for a great immigration lawyer?

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jwb119
I'm biased, but I think Ting Ni is great (she's in Mountain View if you're in
Silicon Valley, but I think remote is fine too). Usually very responsive on
email as well: ting@tingnilaw.com. <http://tingnilaw.com/profile.html>

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robot
Useful post. How was your pitch, particularly the question: How do you make
money with Moosify?

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funkymusic
Three major revenue streams - Premium (In-App purchases), Affiliate & Ads.

In the interview at the Consulate we've been really talking about details here
I guess especially because we're a quite young startup.

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devgutt
But the money that you showed in the bank was from investments, right? In that
case, you have Austrian investors. If the investors were from US, the E2 visa
would be still possible? What I mean is: if I came to US and close a deal with
an investor, I'm still eligible to get this kind of visa.

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funkymusic
Yes, the money has to be on your account.

From what I remember 50% of the investors have to be nationals of the treaty
country (not sure if this applies to the investment as well).

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danmaz74
Very good post. Still, I hope we'll be more and more able to just build our
startups in the EU.

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funkymusic
Things are happening ... see <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-
release_IP-13-262_en.htm>

