PDA

View Full Version : E2 Visa Question ?



RichandKaz
29-01-2006, 02:38
Hi ya everyone... Were after some helpful info...[msnsmile2]

We've just bought a biz in Naples & have sorted the details out like Contract etc & is ok. Spoken to Lesley Sillitto & Attorney stuff done in Orlando too.
Question is?... We've got a closing date for the biz of 01/05. Were hoping to have E2 submitted soon (1-2wks?), & of course the Embassy hopefully doesnt find fault anywhere in the files etc & that we can get the visa in our passports b4 end of April, but if not has anyone gone out to Florida (or USA) say on a 90day VWP, pending the Visa being granted by the Embassy & come back to have them issued? What do you say to the Imm Officers when you come in on that initial 90day VWP (when you do have biz intentions of course?) [msnoo]

We are hoping that if the Visa isnt with us by end of April, then if we went on a 90day from then that it would be granted by the end of our 90day stay & we can then come back to the UK & then go back again with the E2 ok....
I know it sounds silly.... but we would appreciate some help on this 1!!

We would normally ask for an extention in contract but our seller is moving to another state !!

Many thanks again

[msnwink]

Robert5988
29-01-2006, 03:42
As I see it you cannot work in the 90 days you enter on a Visa waiver - so you would need to be 'economical with the truth' if you intend get involved with your business. I doubt the immigration officer would(could?) let you enter if you were frank about your intentions.

If you did enter on a Visa Waiver your problems might come when you subsequently entered on an E2 Visa. The Immigration officer would have a record from your MR passport that you had recently been in the USA on a Visa Waiver and, as it would look suspicious, might put 'two and two together'. It would take no time to establish that you had broken the rules and that could spell big trouble; even refusing you entry and cancellation of Visa.

Kazzie
29-01-2006, 03:44
I am sure Julie (Esprit) will be along shortly to answer your questions.

Good luck.

Karen

esprit
29-01-2006, 08:06
I doubt that timeframe will work, the embassy is floundering under a sea of applications, about ten times as many as when I applied three years back and there are some huge processing delays at the embassy at the moment, they are saying 14-16 weeks to process but are coming back for further evidence after that, and then another 14-16 weeks goes by until you hear from them again. I know people who have had applications in fot 18 months who still dont have their visas. And they are turning people down too, it is much much harder than when I did it three years ago due to having a hard taskmaster at the helm in the E2 section. Surely Lesley has told you all this??

Are you saying you would come in on visa waiver and close?? You can supervise a business but not work or draw salary without the visa. You may get in once or twice like that. If you have school age kids of course that complicates the issue. Eventually the port of entry officers get suss, the only thing then is to come clean and hope they are nice to you, they dont have to be, but you will get better treatment if you come clean than if they find out they have been lied to. They are aware of the problems at the embassy with E2. Be that as it may, is is wise to close before you get the visa?? What if you dont get it? It isnt a fait accompli nowadays. If you dont get it, you will be in a position of having a business you cant legally run. And you need nerves of steel to conduct an E2 application this way, the stress on you would be phenomenal and it is stressful enough moving here and starting to run a business anyway. It isnt to be recommended.

If you have no kids, have you thought or applying for B2 and then changing status internally, you can then fast track it. But you still have to go back to the embassy some time if you wish to travel as only the embassy can issue a visa, all Texas will give you is an 1-94 (right to remain.) Another audacious move that one but I have to say it may be preferable to the first idea, IMHO. I have to say your attorney probably will not like either of these and will want you to proceed in the conventional way and if you lose the business you lose the business. After all E2 applicants pay far more than an American would and the seller isnt going to get an E2 person who is going to get the visa any quicker than you will.

I am dm-ing you the address of a forum which has a large E2 section on it. Read some of the horror stories on there before you rush into anything. This is compulsive reading but may have you running for the hills, E2 isnt for the fainthearted at the moment.

RichandKaz
29-01-2006, 19:42
Thanks guys & esp Julie for that link to the other forum.. I will read up abit more. We know 'officially' we couldnt work in the biz anyway... but after we have the info back from the accountant on the books we'll be in a better position of knowing if the biz is gonna happen or not... but if it does then we just need to know how we can get around the closure & takeover of the biz from 01/05 without the Visa being issued by then ?

Lesley has mentioned the faults(!!) with the Embassy at the moment (she said she did have 1 pass in 7wks recently & then another in 15!!) So who really knows how lucky someone is gonna be with a time / date etc with Visas etc...

Without being able to get an extention from the 01/05... were pretty stuck i suppose ?

blott
29-01-2006, 20:07
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by RichandKaz
Thanks guys & esp Julie for that link to the other forum.. I will read up abit more. We know 'officially' we couldnt work in the biz anyway... but after we have the info back from the accountant on the books we'll be in a better position of knowing if the biz is gonna happen or not... but if it does then we just need to know how we can get around the closure & takeover of the biz from 01/05 without the Visa being issued by then ?

Lesley has mentioned the faults(!!) with the Embassy at the moment (she said she did have 1 pass in 7wks recently & then another in 15!!) So who really knows how lucky someone is gonna be with a time / date etc with Visas etc...

Without being able to get an extention from the 01/05... were pretty stuck i suppose ? [/quote]Do you have in your purchase contract that your purchase is subject to your gaining an E2 visa? If not and you don't get the visa for some reason, you could be forced to purchase the business anyway, which wouldn't be a good position to be in.

esprit
29-01-2006, 21:11
Your seller will almost certainly extend beyond that date, he will have to, what is the point of his pulling out if anyone else buying the business on E2 will almost certainly have the same problems as you??
I saw you materialiase on the other forum by the way, nice photo! ( face to name and all that) I am one of the moderators of the E2 section on there, if you want to know anything ask away, been there done that, bought the tee shirt. I expect you have an awful lot of reading to do now and some of it may well scare the wits out of you, 7 weeks is almost unheard of now. I will say however you do have the right visa consultant.

Blottie, he 100 percent does have that clause in if he is using Lesley I would say.

RichandKaz
29-01-2006, 22:22
Thanx again Blott & Julie for your guidance on this point of ours. I am using Lesley yes & we did have a point in the clause in the contract for the E2, but the seller is moving & wanted (we think more like his broker, a quicker sale pref to a USA buyer)... & the clause was taken out as they were gonna keep advertising the buisness.. & we didnt want a phone call after we had done some work that someone else had put in a higher offer or could move faster than us.
On paper (initially) Lesley says it seems like a good biz, employs 3, lots of owner benefit etc, running long time.. but we do still have a get out card in the contract if the accounts dont add up!!? Ball now starts moving tomorrow for all...
Contract was only signed last week.... what would you do ? I doubt i could change the contract now to resubmit the clause? [msnoo]

Will look out for you Julie on the other forum too ok.... [msnsmile2]

blott
29-01-2006, 22:37
100% he doesn't apparently Julie! [msnwink]

So, you're now committed to purchase that business no matter whether you get an E2 visa or not and only can get out of it if the financials are not up to scratch.

I don't think there's very much that you can do after you've signed the contract to change it now so I think you'd better just hope that you get that visa or, as a Plan B, look now into how you could offload the business again if you don't get your visa (whether in time or not). I realise that sounds a bit downheartening but, with the way visa applications are currently going and the time being taken, I'm sure that having a Plan B would be a wise move on your part.

esprit
30-01-2006, 05:37
That does surprise me as it has now left you absolutely wide open, not a wise move, it must be a really good biz as frankly if he had told me that, I would have let it go, much too risky. Was the clause removed with your visa consultants approval?? I would say plan C more like actually. Hope for your sake it works out.

florida4sun
30-01-2006, 13:27
Have I got this right, you have to buy the business wether you get a visa or not? No attorney should advise you go forward with that, it is way too risky. Many e2 applications fail. Also what appears to be a good e2 business on paper, often is not. Usually supported by unstable contracts.
It is your decision but I would not go ahead under a one sided contract.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by RichandKaz
Thanx again Blott & Julie for your guidance on this point of ours. I am using Lesley yes & we did have a point in the clause in the contract for the E2, but the seller is moving & wanted (we think more like his broker, a quicker sale pref to a USA buyer)... & the clause was taken out as they were gonna keep advertising the buisness.. & we didnt want a phone call after we had done some work that someone else had put in a higher offer or could move faster than us.
On paper (initially) Lesley says it seems like a good biz, employs 3, lots of owner benefit etc, running long time.. but we do still have a get out card in the contract if the accounts dont add up!!? Ball now starts moving tomorrow for all...
Contract was only signed last week.... what would you do ? I doubt i could change the contract now to resubmit the clause? [msnoo]

Will look out for you Julie on the other forum too ok.... [msnsmile2]
[/quote]

steph_goodrum
30-01-2006, 13:57
" but the seller is moving & wanted (we think more like his broker, a quicker sale pref to a USA buyer"

I can't see how (unless they knew they were committing you to buying and it's your problem if you don't get a Visa), they would think it would be quicker to sell to a UK citizen with Visa etc to be approved than a US citizen who would presumably only have to arrange finance. I smell a bit of a rat here or maybe I'm being too sceptical but as Julie says I can't see why a Visa consultant would allow the clause to be removed as they are supposed to working in your interst not the seller.

esprit
30-01-2006, 20:02
All a ploy as well I think, Steph, as businesses sold to E2 applicants pretty much always sell at a higher price than to an American will be willing to pay as a Yank will just be looking at the figures and not the visa, chance of life in the sunshine and all that.

Martin, knowing the visa consultant concerned, and she did mine as some know, I would be very surprised if the clause was removed with her approval as you are 100 percent correct in what you say, that is why I asked Richard for clarification and why I said earlier in the thread that it almost certainly WAS in the contract. If it was removed against advice, yes bad move as you say, huge risks and unless you are still following E2 closely Martin, yuu will have no idea how much worse the situation has got and how much harder it is now than in your day, or even in mine, the word nightmare is not too strong, peoples lives are being ruined.

Robert5988
30-01-2006, 20:12
Those of you who have ‘been there and done that’ have, as usual, given good advice on the pitfalls of committing to buying a business before approval of an E2 visa. ‘Counting chickens’ comes to mind.

However his question was how he went about working in his business during a 90 day stay granted under the Visa Waiver Programme.

esprit
31-01-2006, 05:44
Well the answer to that one is that legally he doesnt, Robert! He can oversee a business usually one managed by someone else but cannot work in it, draw a salary etc and when he leaves and tries to get in again at Port of Entry the officer may well ask him what he has been doing here and suss out he isnt a bona fide tourist which would mean he may not get back in again. Very risky move.

florida4sun
31-01-2006, 13:18
This was answered by Julie in her first post......

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Robert5988


However his question was how he went about working in his business during a 90 day stay granted under the Visa Waiver Programme.

[/quote]

florida4sun
31-01-2006, 13:22
We had it bad as we got caught up in the ban on MCs but managed to wangle it through Mexico. We were on a visa waiver for along time. Back then you could do the Bahamas thing....It was very very frustrating. What really got to me was a freind on an L1 was refused renewal no reason given at all and no replies to questions. It is a terrible way to treat peoples lives.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by esprit
All a ploy as well I think, Steph, as businesses sold to E2 applicants pretty much always sell at a higher price than to an American will be willing to pay as a Yank will just be looking at the figures and not the visa, chance of life in the sunshine and all that.

Martin, knowing the visa consultant concerned, and she did mine as some know, I would be very surprised if the clause was removed with her approval as you are 100 percent correct in what you say, that is why I asked Richard for clarification and why I said earlier in the thread that it almost certainly WAS in the contract. If it was removed against advice, yes bad move as you say, huge risks and unless you are still following E2 closely Martin, yuu will have no idea how much worse the situation has got and how much harder it is now than in your day, or even in mine, the word nightmare is not too strong, peoples lives are being ruined.
[/quote]

MarkJan
04-02-2006, 14:11
Is this the same country we haev a "special relationship" with? It would appear that it is one way.

Best of luck with the biz though...[msneek]

esprit
04-02-2006, 20:28
You begin to wonder, dont you? Two problems, firstly too many Brits wanting to move here at the moment and the embassy is swamped and secondly Britain to be frank is seen as a country associated with terrorism and they dont profile applicants so we all get tarred with the same brush.

Martin, Mexico doesnt work now, I heard of someone applying to the Bahamas a couple of months ago and got E2 in a couple of weeks. Then everyone started to try and now they have said they wont deal with them anymore. You sometimes just get lucky doing it with places like that.

The world and his dog is being turned down for renewals now as well. The whole thing has become very worrying for those here as well as those applying,