Originally Posted by fatbrit

Strikes me you didn't put the visa first. Always a recipe for disaster! The level of investment required is usually larger than that which you quoted. Time to find an immigration attorney with experience in E2 visas and see if you can save it. I hope your business plan was top notch.

Originally Posted by newbus

Thank you for your answer, what do you mean I "did not put the visa first"?
I do have experiences with E2 visa and had an E2 business before with the same amount of investment, it is not a problem (maybe it is in London) and yes, the business plan is top notch and so is the whole application. I applied for my previous E2 without a lawyer and got it with no problems in no time. That is the reason I do not understand this, I did not have an business account with the money in my previous application, was never a problem then...
Since I never got a refusal I do not know what to expect now or what to do.
I am afraid I will get one this time, the question is, what can I do to prevent that? And how do I do that? I do have more money available if needed. Should I open a business account or an escrow and send it to the embassy?

Originally Posted by newbus

Thank you for your answer, what do you mean I "did not put the visa first"?
I do have experiences with E2 visa and had an E2 business before with the same amount of investment, it is not a problem (maybe it is in London) and yes, the business plan is top notch and so is the whole application. I applied for my previous E2 without a lawyer and got it with no problems in no time. That is the reason I do not understand this, I did not have an business account with the money in my previous application, was never a problem then...
Since I never got a refusal I do not know what to expect now or what to do.
I am afraid I will get one this time, the question is, what can I do to prevent that? And how do I do that? I do have more money available if needed. Should I open a business account or an escrow and send it to the embassy?

Originally Posted by newbus

Hello all,

We have applied for an E2 visa (Brussels). We got a phone call from the embassy after just 2 days to ask where the investment was!?
We did invest about 32k so far and business plan shows further investment. As this is a start up business and not an existing on it is a bit harder to do. We have a long term lease signed and equipment is ordered and paid for. Business is established and I do have an SSN and EIN already.
She told me I need to have my money in an US account and be at risk! Since I already invested my money is at risk...so I really do not understand this. She also told me I have no employees yet....of course not, the business is not operating yet, waiting for the visa approval!
What should I do now? she sad she will give the application to the consul like it is. I did not know what to say, I was overwhelmed by the phone call. Now we are worried we will get a refusal for not enough investment.
I know if you buy a business you put your money in escrow in order to get the visa, but what about a start up? Should I still open an escrow account or a regular business account and put $60K on it or something? Anyone done this? What if we do this? would we be able to submit this extra info to the embassy or wait for the interview? and what if we do get a refusal? Can we apply again for the same business with more investment?
Sorry for all the questions, I am worried and do not know what to do next.

Originally Posted by mrsvic

hi
A friend of ours did an E2 start up last year - i know he didnt have to have funds in an Escrow account like we did for our L1, but he did have to have some funds in a US account for deposits
i beliver he had to show all reciepts for stock, deposits etc and have lease agreement signed contingent on getting Visa

One of the ways he showed his money was commited was by using the signing of the lease on the shop for 5 years, contingent on visa approval. Suppose the rent was $2000 per month x 60 months = commited investment of $120,000 therefore on approval of visa you are commited to this lease

Originally Posted by Bob

How long ago did you last do it? things change all the time...level of investment they want to see compared to a few years ago is a lot higher generally speaking.

I think the best advice has already been given, to speak to an immigration lawyer who has experience of the E2 visa and your consulate, money should be peanuts compared to the over all level of investment.

Originally Posted by newbus

Thank you for your answers!
We did sign a lease for $2200 per month for a 3 year period! This is an investment of around $80.000, but I am not sure the embassy will see it like that, we did not include this amount in the investment total because it is not really an investment that we make now, but over a 3 year period.
Do you think I should point the consul to this lease investment for 3 years and spending 80K on top of our 96k original investment?
My main question now is, would putting money into a business account or escrow help me at my interview? If they decided no for the visa because the investment is to low, could this change their mind?

Originally Posted by newbus

Do you think I should point the consul to this lease investment for 3 years and spending 80K on top of our 96k original investment?

Originally Posted by newbus

We originally hired a lawyer back then and paid 5000 euro to him only to find out he could not help us as the information he gave us was false (I called the embassy to check). He never did anything for us and we lost the 5k! He also is no longer a visa lawyer! So I am not really waiting to get a new lawyer as we know what to do and our application is already in. Since we never got a refusal I am wondering what the options are if we do get one...
what are the chances of getting a visa if you have been refused one before?
should they allow us to defend our self and give us time to invest more or something? How does this process work? Anyone has any experience in this?

Originally Posted by JCraigFong

Things change, and although the laws and regs related to E visas have not actually changed in the past few years -- since you last did the paperwork for an E -- I'd be fairly certain that the Economic Officer at the Embassy who reviewed the E application has rotated out of that position at the Embassy. So: you have a very different pair of eyes reviewing paperwork.

Actually, it is still the same women, she has done this for the last 24 years!

I can't address anything that your prior attorney did -- apparently not a great deal -- but I can already spot one error in your analysis that an attorney could have helped you avoid: A signed rental agreement to pay monthly rent on a leasehold is NOT valued for "investment" purposes at the value of the rental agreement over the course of the leasehold. In other words: if the rent is $100/month for 36 months, the "investment" is NOT -- repeat NOT -- $3,600. The business' liability for the future lease payments is NOT supposed to be considered as part of the capital being put at risk.


What I am saying here is that if you're totting up the total of your investment in your new business, and if you calculated the face value of the full lease as part of that investment, you have inappropriately inflated your investment.

This may not matter much in a deal where an additional million dollar investment is being made, but where the investment is at the edge of approvability, it could be fatal to the application. These days, anything under about $200,000 is dicey and needs EXCEPTIONAL documentation.

Newbus, in looking at your original posting, there seem to me to be a LOT of misunderstandings underpinning your questions. You state that you don't really need to talk to an attorney, "as we know what to do." You'll forgive me for saying so, but it is not clear to me that you do. The recounting of the conversation with the Consular Officer really does suggest to me that there are some fundamental requirements that have gone unfulfilled.

I am not questioning your experience, nor am I doubting that you've been through this process before; however, I am suggesting that you really might want to seek experienced immigration counsel -- someone that truly KNOWS how to do E visas -- and work this out. After all, you're not in this to lose money, unless you need a tax write-off.


--J Craig Fong
Los Angeles, CA

Originally Posted by newbus

My only real question here is, can I reapply IF I get denied? (Of course with more investment made). What are my options if I get denied?