Ep. 8 Is there a minimum investment amount to apply for an E2 Investment Visa?
Raw Transcript:
Introduction: You ask we answer your immigration questions. Simple. And now your host immigration lawyer Jacob Sapochnick.
Jacob: This time it’s Mario from Spain. And Mario is asking whether there’s a minimum amount of investment that a person needs before applying for the E2 Investor Visa. That is actually a very good question Mario because we get this … asked a lot this question. What is their [actual minimum 00:00:31]? Is there a minimum amount?
Well, with investor visa the way the law is structured there is no minimum amount. The law says it has to be a reasonable amount that we can show that the business is not marginal and that your investment is going to be at risk. But in practice if I advise clients and they ask me, well, what is going to be the amount, I often ask them to consider a few things. First of all what is the type of business? Is it going to be a retail or a restaurant or what is the location in the US that you can operate your business. Those factors will determine them out of investment.
So for example if you’re going to operate a restaurant in San Diego and it cost you more than if you’re going to open a shop in Idaho. It also depends from the size; it also depends on the kind of operation. But I would say that typically anything less than 50,000 is going to be very difficult to convince any Consulate or any Embassy or the Immigration Service if you’re doing a change of status. So I would say let’s start with a 50,000 amount just to see, make sure that the person has something to be able to convince any government official that it’s a legitimate business and it’s not just done to be able to get a paperwork.
So, again, to summarize there’s not a set amount but we would say anything less than 50,000 is going to be very difficult to convince any government official.
Closing: Thank you for listening to the Ask My Immigration Lawyer Podcast, the show that’s dedicated to answering your immigration questions. Simple as that. See you next week for another round of questions and much needed answers.
