deanandjean

Okay heres the scenario if anyone can help or advise i would gladly appreciate it.

My wife is a qualified RN and works in the local a and e dept and although qualified last year she has the necessary hours to apply for a us licence which we have done and are awaiting the documentation they require to evaluate her credentials(done in state not cgfns btw).
Any hows we have a problem as with retrogression being what it is my eldest will be 19 next month and we fear he will not be able to emigrate to the us as he will be over 21 when all the paperwork and green cards have been sorted.
Heres my query.

If he buys into a business with me he will be entitled to an e-2 visa status thus be okay for immigration.However is he able to attend his last 2 years at university over in the states to finish his degree on an e-2 visa as well as working in our new business or would he have to go over on an f1 visa and hopefully find a job when qualified.

i know there could be a lot of scenarios simplified

1)We buy a business all go over on e-2 visa and he works in the business as a partner as well as studying if allowed.
2)We buy a business my eldest goes over on a f1 visa and then has to find an employer willing to sponser him or could i employ him on a work visa
3)We buy the business he comes over on the e-2 visa while studying and then my wife should have all the relevant experience education etc needed we reapply for her rn licence and then find a hospital willing to sponser her for green card status thus we go thru the long process of citizenship and then sponsering my son.

i know i will probably have to turn to an immigration attorney but we are risking a lot as the sales from our house will be the investment and really dont want to return to the uk

amy help greatly appreciated

ian-mstm

I can't really address your scenarios, but if you don't want to return to the UK, then an E-2 visa is not a good choice, as it has no direct route to a US "green card". Perhaps better, might be an EB-5 visa... if you have the money.

Ian

CazOnAnE2

as your son is still under 21 he can remain in the country on the back of your visa, even though you are still waiting for documents to arrive... (I'm going through all this with my son at the moment) Once he is 21 but is still staying on in education, he can apply for a student visa rather than you spending a fortune to buy a business, hopefully then your "Green cards" will arrive... or you can marrying him off.... which we keep threating our son...hehehe!!! :0)
He can study on an E2 visa, but can not work, unless you apply for the work card through the social security department and get an FEIN number.

Why do they make it so difficult for us to be here??

You can employ your eldest son, however you have to prove that no american can do that job, and that you have to employ a british citizen and sponsor him, that's not easy to prove to the embassy.
Unless you go into business with him on a 50/50 split.

Good luck

meauxna

Are you sure the 21 y/o can get a student visa? When he doesn't have a home outside the US?
Social Security does not take applications for work card (or issue them) and an EIN is an employer tax ID number.

JCraigFong

The hardest thing on BE for me are the questions in which there are multiple options and the decision tree becomes quite ghastly. This is sort of one of those cases. Here's why:

(1) You wife's application as an RN will run on its own timetable. At some point, she may or may not wish to get a job as a nurse in the USA during the pendency of the LPR case. If she gets some nonimmigrant visa to come to the USA, you and any minor children will get dependents' visas.

(2) If your wife opts NOT get a nonimmigrant visa to work in the USA, there are a different set of scenaria and options for pursuing the LPR.

(3) An E-2 visa is certainly a good option for an entrepreneur -- despite what some others on BE will tell you. The question would be whether you want to put this money at risk when your wife's own LPR application is pending. Going into business is not, after all, without its risks. This situation does NOT lend itself to the EB-5 employment-creation LPR which so many on BE seem to favor -- at least, so it seems to me. After all, if you had that kind of money to put at risk, why even BOTHER to have your wife apply for LPR through her RN credentials?

Your son could be a 50% owner of the company with you, and yes, you and he would qualify for the E-2 visa equally. You could come to the USA as E-2s while your wife works as a nurse on a nonimmigrant visa. And all the while, you'll be waiting for your wife's LPR. If she receives her LPR while your child is under 21, then the child gets LPR, too. If not, then no LPR for your son as a dependent.

The two of you -- your son and yourself -- MUST have a domicile in the UK to apply for the E-2. If, however, your family comes to the USA as a function of your wife getting some nonimmigrant visa to work in the USA during the pendency of her LPR case, then applying for the E-2 could be problematic, because you will all be living in the USA and would encounter some difficulties demonstrating the requisite domicile in the UK.

(4) Your son is certainly entitled to apply to a US university, and if admitted, attend. He would likely end up paying "foreign student" tuition if it's a public university. The likes of Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, and Stanford charge the same fees, foreign or domestic (as it were).

(5) An E-2 can apply to study at a university. However, an F-1 can not -- repeat NOT -- work at your company without employment authorization -- even if he is part owner. And no, one alien cannot enter the USA on two visas.

There's a lot more here, but that gives you the outline. I think you gave youself the best advice at the end of your original post. You are really best having an hour-long discussion with an immigration attorney to sort out your options.

Best of luck.

--J Craig Fong
Los Angeles, CA

Folinskyinla

Hi J:

And we did not even mention CSPA, did we?

ian-mstm

Who is "us", and why do you think you're entitled to special treatment? US immigration laws are specifically designed to keep non-US citizens *out* of the US.

Ian

deanandjean

Thank you for all your responses its starting to clear up a little now.

The only thing i am still unsure of is do you still have to keep your house in the uk in order to qualify for an E-2 visa as i am being told different stories.

As for immigration for the family the only way i can see if we have to keep our house is sit in the retrogression queue for green cards based on the wifes qualifications as nursing is a group A specification sell the house and bring my eldest whom will be over 21 on a student visa and then hopefully with his intended masters degree he will hopefully get an employer who will sponsor him.Or if we move out on permanent green cards would i be able to set him with the cash in order to entitle him to buy a business as his main residence would have to be sold i just dont know how uscis would view in it

thanks again

I can appreciate us law is there to keep non us citizens out i only wish the uk was the same!!! But if you look at the nursing shortage in the us its being estimated 116,000 positions are available and believe me nurses are worth their weight in gold.

Flabound oneday

Dean & jean , we are in exactly the same boat. Wife has 'cleared' CGFNS (only 15 months) and now Florida BON has decreed she is deficient in hours in a couple of areas (mainly kids). Annoying thing is she specialises in Oncology and Hospice and has no ambition to work with children.

So we are now looking at the L1 route as an alternative.

Good luck

deanandjean

hello mel

Jean

Flabound oneday

actually its not Mel -she is at work.didnt realise you knew each other

deanandjean

Yes we spoke last week and she explained the situation

It is our dream to live their mel explained her position when she phoned last week and we are in exactly the same position as yourselves.Our application has just been acknowledged however we have gone through a different route where the credentails get evaluated in the state not through cgfns and the time only takes weeks not months which mel said how long it took cgfns they can be a nightmare.

The problem is the wait for green cards we are looking at about 3-5 years at present unless a miracle happens so we are looking at other routes.

We are looking at buying a business and i will be able to take a course in the states to make up the hours required which is possible if i need any.

But my business funds would be coming from the sale of our house which i am being told i can do by some people and i cant do by others

Its a long haul but we are not giving up

Flabound oneday

ah yes she mentioned it. If its any consolation we have friends who are 3 years into an E2 and sold their house here so have no offical UK home. So it can be done

and yes its very frustrating

deanandjean

Hi again

Never asked did they sell their house before they filed for e-2 or after ?

JAJ

You say your wife is a nurse. Which means that she would probably have a reasonably straightforward migration pathway to Australia, or (to a slightly lesser extent), Canada and New Zealand.

Even for Australia, if she is aged 45 or over, employer sponsored migration should be do-able.

Out of interest, what does the United States offer you that these countries don't? And if there is something extra, is it worth all the additional visa hassle and uncertainty?