Mic1

Hi guys,
Wondering if anyone can confirm my understanding of the requirements for starting a branch of an established organisation using an L1?
Bit of a build up to this question......
I recently sold a relatively small business in the UK that distributed and manufactured innovative hand tools all under one brand name. We marketed through major professional trade wholesalers and became the go to brand when a member of the building industry wanted a product that no one else offered . I initially set the company up about 11 years ago having previously worked out on the tools which gave me the insight to establish what unique products were missing from the UK marketplace. A major part of our portfolio was made up of products sourced from around the world including Spain, Germany, Italy, Taiwan and USA but tailored to suit the UK. In addition, we also designed and patented various ideas which have proved quite successful.
About 5 years ago, we hit a bit of an impasse and found it difficult to move forward without decent funding. I subsequently sold a minority stake in the business to a very large German organisation with a view that they would fund the growth but be entitled to buy out the remaining shares at the end of this year. We're not talking millions, just a few hundred thousand.
Up until last year, my relationship with the 'investors' was good, but a couple of life changing family situations (and BREXIT's devaluation of Sterling) caused things to take a sudden turn. It's difficult without going into detail but in May of 2017, my younger brother who has always been as stable as the next man had a breakdown out of nowhere that left him wanting to take his own life and harm people around him. As a family unit, we have never experienced any mental health issues so were absolutely clueless about how to deal with the situation. In hindsight, he should have been sectioned but as a family unit we decided that being put into a padded cell wasn't the answer (visions of electric shock treatment etc) so we moved his wife and 8 year old daughter out and myself and my father stayed at his house for quite a while hoping that a switch would flick and he would return to his old self. Those of you that have witnessed this type of problem will know that this doesn't happen but slowly with intense CBT and numerous meds a day, he calmed down, still a long way from where he was though.
The whole situation rocked us all and i found myself wobbling at week three so was advised to step aside and return home as i had my young family to look after (daughters aged 7 and 9 and wife). I'm not ashamed to say that i needed a couple of sessions of hypno to put me back on track after that. After a few weeks, my brother's family moved back in and we then all took turns in staying there for the odd night. A year has now passed, he has good days and bad days but apparently that is the best we can hope for, at least for next year or two.
I was able to then pick up on work, continue to try and grow the business and in a way, hid in it to blot out what had happened.
Then, in June, my younger sister who had recently divorced a policeman that went completely off the rails and has two small boys caught a lung infection that resulted in her being on a machine called an 'ECMO' for 2 months in St Thomas's in London. With our family unit having just come to terms with my brother, to then be told a few months later that my sister will probably die unless a new set of lungs are found was devastating. Not only that, but because my sister's ex was not a fit father (in our opinion) myself, my wife and my M and D both in their mid 70's were trying to get custody of her two boys, that was tough and very expensive as you can imagine and all this time, we had to keep the news about my sisters illness away from my brother in case it put him back to square one. Even though she was in an induced coma, we all felt that we needed to visit and i for some reason used to drive from Surrey to St Thomas's every week night after work.
By this time, i had taken my eye off the ball as far as work was concerned and even though i felt i was still holding the team together (about 15 employees), it was difficult. Business started to slide and even though i asked our investor for some assistance, it never came which at the time upset and surprised me as they were some 280 employees strong. I guess that's what happens when we have a predetermined buy out date and the payout is based on EBIT, the callousness side of business takes over.
The hospital consultants announced to us one Saturday that they felt that my sister wasn't going to pull out so they advised that we prepared for the worst. They also said that even if she did, the net result of being hooked up to an ECMO for that amount of time would have almost certainly caused neurological damage. They said that they would switch the machine down over the course of 2 days and she will either fight and her own lungs would kick in and start to take over......or they wouldn't. Well, it was a year last week and although she can never run a marathon and has a few other minor problems, she is nearly back to where she was!!! I have never ever known a person so strong and i have to say that the ICU dept at St Thomas's were angels, with a little help from advances in the electro-mechanical world!
It became clear that we (especially i) had been running on adrenaline for most of 2017 and around October i flaked out a bit around November and told our investor i wanted out a year early. Although business is tough, i was surprised as our investors stance but i since found out from an ex high level employee of theirs that their game plan was to let me crumble under the pressure and hope that i walk, leaving them with nothing to pay for the remaining shares. Business can be tough.
In the end, i struck a deal and came out with a token payment in March this year. As much as my original company initially held a place in my heart, it now means nothing other than a steep learning curve for a guy who once worked out on the tools and had a dream to make the building industry a better place for the end user.
Anyway, moving on from this novel of an introduction, one of our Spanish manufacturing partners has made me an offer which is very appealing. Over the years, we have become very close and have much more than just a manufacturer-customer relationship. Up until 6 years ago, they were manufacturing a line of products especially for a well known USA tool brand, netting them about 3,000,000 Euros PA. Unfortunately, the USA brand decided that they would cease buying from the Spanish and would manufacture under their control in China. The Spaniards have no representation in the USA in order to try and win back some alternative business in other sectors of the industry and have decided that i am the man to do this for them.
It would involve selling to the same channels but different parts of the market, for example instead of trying to sell into an established tool brand to market as their own, the target would be further down the line, to the wholesalers, distributors and retailers under our own brand. I know this would work reasonably well so i'm not asking for opinions on this aspect of the venture.
Therefore, they have put forward that i work for them with almost immediate effect in the capacity of a yet to be decided position that would qualify me for an L1 in a years time. To be honest, there will be a great deal of setting up that i would have to do from the UK, branding, establishing distribution lines, product development specific for North America, warehousing or fufillment, offices etc, etc.
The target area to start from would be California for obvious reasons and to establish a unique amount of products in that state alone would prove reasonably lucrative in its own right, some products are state specific (dam the Proposition 65 when it comes to tools) then we could look to branch out into other decent catchment areas. Having said all that, i already have a relationship with a buyer at a large player in the USA, namely Ferguson as my old company used to supply several lines to them so a listing of a few products with them would give some nationwide exposure.
The huge tick in the box for me and my family is that we love California and have visited every year, sometimes twice a year for the last 25 years, staying with friends in Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, Escondido, Corona and Oceanside.. We had dreamed of moving their one day but only a pipe dream, couldn't have scrapped enough for an EB5 with a decent house but could have toyed with an E2 quite easily i think. We are quite lucky (although you could say we've earned it) but would be mortgage free at around $650k, we would probably settle in Temecula or Murrieta as it would pay me to be reasonably close to LA, SD and the I-10 corridor all the way out to Palm Springs area. Plus you get a decent bang for the buck in those cities and schools score quite highly which is paramount.
This last year though has really made me think. This offer is a once in a lifetime opertunnity and you never know what the future holds, if lucks against you then you could one day be in a padded cell or on an ECMO machine and although 30% of me is scared stiff of the prospect of moving 11 hours away, it is just that, 11 hours away in a place that we know much better than 90% of the UK. I feel that i owe it to my wife and kids after being a somewhat distant 'Dad' last year. I feel back in the game, strong, both emotionally and physically although no one knows where their breaking point is or how close they have been to it. There were points last year when i was close, looking back it is obvious but at the time you don't but i can tell you that i am well away from that now. And looking at things from another perspective, what if my brother, sister or anyone else gets ill and i'm miles away? I will do all i can but the simple fact is, you can't save the world, period and should you put your life and your kids lives on hold for something that may or may not happen that you have no control over anyway. Of course not, not in my opinion anyway. My wife is 80% in favor, kids are 100% FWIW. Surrounding members of my family are pushing me to do it, maybe partly because they know that me taking control of the problems with my bro and sis, if it happened again it might take me with it and my responsibility should be more focused towards my own family which i have to agree with.
So my friends, after all that, i'm not really asking opinions if i should do it or not but more so to do with me being employed by the Spanish company for a year simply so that they can plonk me in California with an L1. Of course, as an alternative i know they would work with me on investment with an E2 (although i think i'm right in saying that to split an E2, both parties have to be nationals of the same country?) and the thought of bringing my kids back to go to a UK university kind of appeals so maybe this would be favorite but the idea of an L1 leading to permanent status is appealing.
Finally, we have yet to consult an attorney or should i say the Spaniards haven't but i recently spoke to an old friend of mine that lives in Florida on an E2 that he has had renewed now for 13 years and he shouts the praises of a lady called Lesley Stilletto. Does anyone know if she is still practicing as she's not coming up on any search?

All the best,

Mic

Noorah101

Hi Mic,

Your post is way too long and involved. I am going to close this thread. Please start a new post, much shorter, just one or two short paragraphs, with only the most relevant information and visa questions.

Thank you,
Rene
Moderator