Hi, this Michael Niren, immigration lawyer and founder of visaplace.com. We were asked this question. Can I get a green card if I’m on an E-2 Visa? Is there a way? Well, the answer is yes and no in that there is no direct path to a green card from an E-2 Visa. An E-2 Visa is a non-immigrant visa, typically valid for five years. It’s for investors who wanna either set up a business or partner up in a business in the United States and make a substantial investment and grow that business and manage that business and get a visa on the basis of their investment. And, as I mentioned, it’s usually valid for five years. It’s renewable. You can renew it and continue to renew it so long as you operate your business and you maintain your business, you can potentially renew it every five years indefinitely or at least almost indefinitely.
Applying for a Green Card
People who stay in the United States that long typically want to think about applying for a green card. Now, as I said, there’s no direct path. However, there are options. For example, if you have a job offer, you potentially can apply for what is called an H-1B Visa. Your company or E-2 company could potentially even offer you a job and get a different type of visa, which is an H-1B Visa, and on that basis you can convert to a green card, adjust your status to a green card. That’s complicated, very lengthy process because you first have to be on H-1B Visa and then move on to a green card.
EB-1C Visa Category
Now the same thing could apply with an L Visa, an L1 Visa provided you have a business that’s operational overseas, outside the United States, and you’re a manager or executive of that business within the last three years of applying. Again, a complicated process. One other possibility is what I call, well not what I call, but what is called an EB1C. That’s a mouthful. For executives or manager of multinational companies.
So if you’re on an E-2 Visa and you happen to have an affiliate business that is outside of the United States, it could be an affiliate, it could be a subsidiary or a related business, there’s a possibility that you could qualify for this category, the EB1C, where you could apply for a green card on that basis. If you’re on an E-2 and you file a green card application as a multinational manager or an employer or an executive. Of course, there are obviously requirements for that, but typically an E-2 applicant who owns a business and who happens to have a business overseas that’s related, connected could be a candidate for this visa. And this visa’s great because there’s no investment required, no investment amount required. The business in the United States has to be running for at least one year while your E-2 business would likely qualify for that. And the processing time is lightning speed. Now when I say lightning speed, it’s within months potentially, as opposed to years and years, which from an immigration perspective is very fast. So for those on an E-2 Visa, consider your options one of which is the EB1C, and that could potentially work for you.
Interested in Applying for a Green Card via the EB-1C Visa Category?
If you’re on an E-2 visa and you’re interested in applying for a green card, there is a way to do that. However, due to the complex nature of the process, it would be best to hire an immigration lawyer to help you apply. That is where we at Visaplace come in handy. We have helped thousands of people immigrate to the US and we can help you, too.
All you have to do is fill out our free immigration assessment form and we will get back to you within 24 hours to discuss your eligibility and options.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Michael is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section and the Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
