E2 Visa Question ?

[RichandKaz]

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]

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]

I am sure Julie (Esprit) will be along shortly to answer your questions.

Good luck.

Karen

[esprit]

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]

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]

<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]

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]

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]

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]

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.