Els87

Hi all,

Just a quick question, does anyone have any experience of information of the possibility of a husband/wife on an E2 Spouse visa transferring to their own E2?

I ask as my wife is due in the US in a couple of weeks on an E2 Spouse but due to a few job offers coming through, it may be quicker than waiting for an EAD.

Thanks

Nutmegger

Perhaps a kind mod will move this into the Immigration and Visas section, as it isn't a marriage question. However, as the wife of an E-2 holder, she is able to apply for an EAD. That's going to be a far simpler procedure than starting from scratch to apply for her own visa -- in whichever category you are thinking of. Unless she's purchasing her own business or being employer by a UK company as a manager, an E-2 wouldn't be appropriate.

civilservant

I agree with nutmegger. If speed is your main goal, then requesting the EAD will likely be quicker than a brand new E2.

scrubbedexpat099

With her E2 EAD she could work for the E2 business.

shiversaint

Does anyone know if an E-2 couple can hold both a derivative visas and a main E-2s?

scrubbedexpat099

I can not think of any reason why they could not.

On the other hand it would be an extremely rare situation why they would.

Nutmegger

Do you mean that they each apply for an E-2 for an individually owned business, but one of the parties also goes on the other's E-2 as a dependent and applies for an EAD? I think the reviewing officer would probably want to know why.

shiversaint

It's a situation we're looking at. I'm an essential employee, my spouse is derivative. She's thinking of starting her own business so we were contemplating putting her through on her own E-2, to enable me to get a derivative one and thus EAD, as my earning potential would be much higher (some 2-4x, so it's very attractive) if I had more freedom with my employment. I also happen to require a waiver of ineligibility, so my acquisition of the derivative visa and EAD is going to take really quite a long time, so being able to stay in my current role whilst that goes on in the background would help significantly.

Appreciate it's a pretty unusual circumstance.

scrubbedexpat099

Well yes she can go for an E2 and if approved then you could be the derivative get an EAD and work outside her business.

shiversaint

Well yes, I know that. What I mean is can I hold an essential employee E-2 simultaneously with a derivative E-2?

TexanScot

The issue isn't whether you can be granted multiple visas and physically have them in your passport (you can), but whether or not you have have multiple immigration status whilst physically present in the United States as it's your admission class that counts, rather than what's in your passport.

To that point I would reckon that the answer is no - you have AN immigration status and it's determined by which visa you use to enter the United States at any given time.

scrubbedexpat099

Plenty of people have more than one visa, so basically you have 2 variants of the same one. You might have a B as well. for example, just need to make clear which one you want to use.

Noorah101

To say it another way. . you can't use your E-2 to work for your own business AND use your derivative E-2 EAD to work for your wife's business at the same time.

Rene

tht

Nutmegger