Starting a Small Business... Which Visa?

[Leilani Johansen 0]

Hi there!

I'm currently living in the US on a J-1 working visa for 12 months, I have only been here 3 months so far. I'm working on a business plan and am hoping to get funding to start my small business, hopefully sometime next year through investors ie new york angels

I was just wondering (so I can get the information early) how do I go about this the right way? Obviously I will have to go back to Australia to get a new Visa, I'm guessing an E-2, however I wasn't sure if you are eligible to get an E-2 if you aren't starting the business with your own money to begin with, as I will be getting my capital from investors ??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Hi there!

I'm currently living in the US on a J-1 working visa for 12 months, I have only been here 3 months so far. I'm working on a business plan and am hoping to get funding to start my small business, hopefully sometime next year through investors ie new york angels

I was just wondering (so I can get the information early) how do I go about this the right way? Obviously I will have to go back to Australia to get a new Visa, I'm guessing an E-2, however I wasn't sure if you are eligible to get an E-2 if you aren't starting the business with your own money to begin with, as I will be getting my capital from investors ??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

You can't get a visa based on a speculative or future business entity. The investment must be a "real operating enterprise". The funds don't have to be yours, but they must be under your control and "at risk", in a commercial sense. Capital from investors is ok, but loans using assets of the business as collateral are not. Since it won't be your capital at risk, you must be employed by the business in a supervisory, executive, or highly skilled position (i.e., the business wouldn't function without you). I've heard that it's substantially more difficult to get an E2 visa if you're not a principal investor, unless the business entity is fairly big. Getting an E2 visa for a small business that's funded by investors is a long shot. The obvious question they're going to ask is why these investors can't work with an American to start their business. The business must also have an economic impact on the United States, which generally means you must be providing jobs for some Americans.

Sounds like you need to form the business and get it off the ground first.