The Temporary Investors Visa (E-2)

The Investors visa can be a very broad category. If you are interested in investing a large sum of capital in a U.S. company you, your employees, and your family may be eligible for a visa of up to 2 years. When 2 years is up, your visa is eligible to be extended if your stay remains temporary. That means that the E-2 visa is considered non-immigrant and you should intend to leave the country in the future, when your work with this financial enterprise is finished or it is no longer necessary to work from the U.S. If you are interested in fully immigrating to invest in a U.S. company and becoming a permanent resident, look into the green card process for investors.


To be eligible for an E-2 visa, you should see a list of countries from which investors have been approved for temporary stay in the U.S. These countries are called treaty countries, and the E-2 visa is also referred to as the treaty investors visa. If you are a national from an eligible country and are currently in the U.S., you can file for E-2 status as an investor. If you are not already in the U.S. but are interested in getting an investor visa, you should contact the U.S. State Department with further questions. From outside the U.S., the U.S. state department can issue you a visa and you can declare investor status when you enter the U.S.

To be an eligible investor, you should own at least half of the commercial enterprise and plan to oversee, direct, and advance its further growth. The enterprise must present a substantial investment, meaning that it can financially sustain the investor and his or her family and aims to generate new jobs, goods, or services. However, the investment should still meet traditional business standards of being at risk for loss and aimed at making profit. The investment should meet legal requirements and the investment capital must be gotten lawfully. That means that money flowing into the enterprise cannot have involved criminal activity on any level.


Spouses and children of investors can also travel on the E-2 visa, and they are not subject to the same nationality requirements as the investor. For the visa process, children are considered dependents that are unmarried and are 21 years old or less. If you are the family member of an investor already in the U.S. and would like to change your status to the E-2 visa, you can file to change your status. Immediate family members of investors are generally given an E-2 visa for the same amount of time as the investor and can usually be similarly renewed.


For more information and help with getting a visa, contact immigration attorney Phillip Kim at (619)752-5379 or go to pkimmigration.com or phillipkimlaw.com

Getting a Green Card and The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program

Each year, the U.S. State Department (U.S. DOS)makes 50,000 visas available to visa applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to foster diversity in the U.S. The Diversity Immigrant Visa recipients are chosen using a lottery system, which you can enter each year through the U.S. Department of State. There is a yearly window of time in which you can apply   Please note that the diversity visa does not go through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. If you receive a visa from the U.S. DOS, you are also eligible to apply for a change of status to permanent resident with the USCIS. While the USCIS does not process applicants to the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you must file the correct USCIS forms to get a green card.

To be eligible to be a Diversity Visa recipient, you must have at least a high school diploma or equivalent . If you do not have a high school education, you should have at least 2 years of work experience in a field that requires at least 2 years of training. You can find a list of qualifying work experience and answers to more questions with the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.

If you are eligible to apply for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you can enter yourself in the lottery online during the allotted entry time. If the window for applying has closed, you must wait until the following year to apply for a DV visa. You will also be notified of the lottery results online.

Once you enter the Diversity Immigrant visa Program and your entrance has been confirmed, you should follow usual procedure for getting a visa. This will mean filing the necessary forms ( see the USCIS website for visa related forms), paying correct filing fees, undergoing a medical examination and submitting the documents with the results, and undergoing an interview at the U.S. Consulate or USCIS office near you.  You must also submit passport-style photographs of you, your spouse, and unmarried children 21 years old or younger.

Remember that you will be checking your application status on a secure State Department website. Take extra caution to keep your confirmation records. If lost, the U.S. DOS will not replace your information and you will be unable to check the status of the lottery.

There are currently fake acceptance letters and websites circulating to try to get applicants to pay money to a fraudulent source.  Do not reply or send money to any letters claiming to be about the Diversity Visa program if you have not checked your status on the U.S. DOS secure website for DV applicants. Check your status only on the site given to you be the U.S. State Department when you apply for your visa.

If you are chosen to receive a visa through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you can apply for a permanent residence card as soon as a visa is available to you. In order to get a green card for permanent residence in the U.S., you need to have a visa available to you in order to travel legally. Do not apply for permanent residence before your visa becomes available. This may require a waiting period.

 If you have a DV visa, you can file for a change of status to permanent resident with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services . As long as there are not holds on your eligibility to be a permanent resident and you are admissible to the U.S., you can file your change of status as normal with the USCIS. You will need to provide proof of your acceptance to the DV program when changing your status.