E1 VISA Privileges and Restrictions
When you’re coming to the US on a VISA, it’s important to know what kind of privileges and options that VISA provides. That’s something you need to prepare for with your lawyer before you move and that way you won’t be in violation of any laws when you’re in the US.
It’s a visa that’s available based on the treaty that your home country has signed with the US so the details about getting should be available on both sides, which is a plus for a person wanting to know as much about their status and their rights in the US.
Who can apply?
There are 3 main qualifiers that you need to have in mind if you want to apply for this visa and you need to be in accordance with all 3 if you want to get it.
-You need to be a national of the country that has a treaty signed with the US
-You need to carry substantial international trade
-Your principle trade, meaning more than 50 percent of it, needs to be with the US
It doesn’t mean you’ll get the visa if you have all 3 but that’s the first step.
What’s E1 Visa?
E1 is what’s called a non-migrant visa, meaning that it’s made for those who don’t plan to stay and live in the US. It allows a person who has it to have the right of entry in the US during the duration of the visa. It’s only for those whose home country has a treaty of navigation and commerce with the US.
When it comes to immigration laws commerce means: “commercial transactions in goods. In case of trade in technology and services, it includes but is not limited to banking, transportation, communications, advertising, engineering and design, technology transfer, insurance, tourism, data processing, accounting, management consulting and other measurable services.”
Conditions
The conditions we described above are for the countries, meaning their citizens who want to apply for the visa. There are also conditions that a person asking for it needs to meet as well. These include:
-The employee should be of the same nationality as that of his primary alien employer, whose nationality is that of the treaty trade nation.
-The employee should be hired legally, and meet legal demands for getting a job
-The employee should be a manager or an executive or should possess some sort of special qualification
Privileges
There are some privileges that you get by having this visa and the most important of this is the fact that you can work legally in the US while you’re here. This is the reason why most people use this particular visa.
It’s also a document with which you can move in and out of the US at any time during your legal stay. The stay needs to be maintained meaning that you can prolonged the visa but it needs to be done before the old one expiry.
Limitations
There are also a few limitations that you need to be aware when applying for and getting the visa. The business you plan to work for in the managerial and executive position is a part of your getting the visa in the first place and therefore you can only work for them and only in that position.
The visa also expires after two years and you need to leave the country after that time is over. If you want to expand on that time and you need to wait for the process to be completed, you’ll need to wait outside the country.
The process
The process for obtaining the visa is slow and not always pleasant. That’s the case even when you’re coming in an orderly way and you have the proper documents. It’s also useful to have this process done for you by a proxy, probably a lawyer and probably one working for the company that will employ you.
The extensions are also complicated to obtain at least when it comes to the waiting and the procedure. That’s something to prepare for and start on time. It’s handled by the institution called Immigration Service Center.
Conclusion
E1 Visa is the visa that’s used for those who come to the US to work on managerial and executive positions. It can only be obtained if you already have an employer for which you’ll work in the US and if your company mostly trades in the US itself (mostly meaning more than 50 percent of its trade).
With this visa you can enter and exit the US as many times as you want to during the two years it’s valid and it can be prolonged after those two years, indefinitely. This visa allows you to bring your family to the US as well.
