Immigration Services

Buy a Business and Immigrate to the United States

The requirements for obtaining work visas and residency in the U.S. are definitely more stringent than those required by other countries, even the European community because of the high demand for immigrants wishing to settle in the United States. These requirements are becoming more demanding because of the events associated with the recent terrorist attacks.

Light & Raphael business brokers is here to assist you with the goal. We are actively looking to work with investors who wish to secure a U.S. visa as part of the process, including immigrant (L-1, E-2, EB-1 and EB-5) visas.

1) THE L-1 VISA

The L-1 visa is a temporary non-immigrant visa which allows companies to relocate foreign qualified employees to its U.S. subsidiary or parent company. The qualified employee must have worked for a subsidiary, parent, affiliate or branch office of the company for at least one year out of the last three years.

The L-1 visa is a good way for small or start-up overseas companies to expand their business and services to the United States.

This is advantageous to smaller companies because it allows for the transfer of a highly proficient manager or executive who has direct knowledge of operations, allowing the setup of a new branch in compliance with the goals and objectives of the company’s main office.

L-1 visas can also be used by multi-national companies. The L-1 visa is not limited to specific countries and the L-1 visa holder does not have to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Many L-1 visa holders eventually apply for green cards.

2) THE E-2 VISA

The E-2 is the most practical and popular of the investor visas. The E-2 visa is for foreign-nationals from countries that have a commerce treaty with the United States, and who want to come to the United States to invest money in a new or already established business. The E-2 visa is an attractive option for many investors since generally there is no minimum requirement regarding the amount that must be invested, unlike the EB-5 Green Card, which normally requires a minimum investment of $1 million. However, typically a foreign-national should plan on being able to commit at least $50,000 in investment funds for the business.

E-2 visas are valid for up to two years and are generally renewable indefinitely, as long as the requirements for the E-2 visa are still satisfied when renewing the E-2 visa.

A list of those countries which qualify for a visa follows below:

Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Grenada, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Congo, Romania, Senegal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia.

3) THE EB-1 VISA

Multinational Executives and Managers

The EB 1-3 Visa allows for multinational executives and managers to obtain permanent residency in the United States. Only individuals who are executives or managers for a company that is multinational (or has affiliates who are multinational) are able to use the EB 1-3 Visa. Although a company must be multinational, it does not need to be large. Both small and large businesses are able to use this visa.

A qualifying applicant must seek to be employed by a company in a managerial or executive position. Additionally, the applicant must have worked for that same company (or its affiliate or subsidiary) for at least one year in the last three preceding years. The one year of qualifying work must have been outside of the United States.

There is no $1,000,000 (or $500,000) investment requirement. For the EB-1(C), there is no strict “new job creation” requirement.

4) THE EB-5 VISA

You and your immediate family can now obtain green cards and permanent US residency with an EB-5 visa by investing $500,000 into a US Government designated Regional Center. It will give each of you the security of permanent US residency without repeated visa applications. Citizenship may be obtained after five years.

Green Card. The attraction of a green card via an EB-5 investment visa is that it can be secured before you commit to emigrating. You will also have the flexibility to take any job, run any business, retire and live anywhere in the USA.

Light & Raphael can help you acquire a business suited to your geographic desires, your capital requirements and your industry preferences. We will work with you to select a business that matches your knowledge, management style, working hours, economic requirements, immigration and financial capacity.

We work with lawyers whose practices are focused on immigration law and related U.S. direct investment projects.

Light & Raphael can also help run the newly acquired business while you are in the process of moving to the U.S. We can also aid in the selection process of housing, finance, colleges and anything else that helps settle your family in the U.S.

Our language skills enable us to work with families looking to relocate from Europe, South America and other regions. We are the true consultant to European, South American and Southern African professionals wishing to immigrate to the United States.