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Hi all, new to the forum and after going around in circles trying to find information online, I thought I'd see if anyone could provide me with some information or point me in the best direction to find answers to my question.
I am a senior executive at a small UK life science company. Whilst we have conducted all our R&D work to date in the UK, we see the US as our biggest market and are therefore looking to open a branch there, with myself going out to establish the branch. I have been looking at the different visa categories for establishing the new branch, and so far L1 or E2 treaty seem to be the best options. I would prefer however that the visa could lead to permanent residence and green card. With the L1 category, we would need to to show office premises have been secured and that the company is 'doing business'. Renting office space isn't a problem per se, although initially, we would prefer that I worked from home until such time that we need to take on more employees (my wife would take care of the admin work for the branch). Additionally, as an R&D company, our books will show lots of money going out in research, and then in a few years time, hopefully a whole lot more coming in when we out-license the technology. This is likely to be a couple years out, but we need to be pre-selling and hence the desire to establish an US presence. Would it therefore be better to go down the E2 route which seems to have much lower requirements and a longer initial duration for the visa (2 years vs 1 year for the L1), although it doesn't lead to a green card? I read on an immigration law firm website however, that the EB1c category is a good option for small companies looking to open a new branch in the US. How does this work and what are the requirements for office space? Could we go the E2 treaty trader route and then file for an EB1c visa once the new branch is up and running, or file for an EB1c outright? I have suitable qualifications for EB1c (MSc, MBA, working in senior role for same company for >4 years). Any free advice to help me better understand the options before running up legal costs would be greatly appreciated!
Regards, Andrew
I am a senior executive at a small UK life science company. Whilst we have conducted all our R&D work to date in the UK, we see the US as our biggest market and are therefore looking to open a branch there, with myself going out to establish the branch. I have been looking at the different visa categories for establishing the new branch, and so far L1 or E2 treaty seem to be the best options. I would prefer however that the visa could lead to permanent residence and green card. With the L1 category, we would need to to show office premises have been secured and that the company is 'doing business'. Renting office space isn't a problem per se, although initially, we would prefer that I worked from home until such time that we need to take on more employees (my wife would take care of the admin work for the branch). Additionally, as an R&D company, our books will show lots of money going out in research, and then in a few years time, hopefully a whole lot more coming in when we out-license the technology. This is likely to be a couple years out, but we need to be pre-selling and hence the desire to establish an US presence. Would it therefore be better to go down the E2 route which seems to have much lower requirements and a longer initial duration for the visa (2 years vs 1 year for the L1), although it doesn't lead to a green card? I read on an immigration law firm website however, that the EB1c category is a good option for small companies looking to open a new branch in the US. How does this work and what are the requirements for office space? Could we go the E2 treaty trader route and then file for an EB1c visa once the new branch is up and running, or file for an EB1c outright? I have suitable qualifications for EB1c (MSc, MBA, working in senior role for same company for >4 years). Any free advice to help me better understand the options before running up legal costs would be greatly appreciated!
Regards, Andrew
