Barcholder

I was issued an EIN number when I created the C Corporation, which then enabled me to get the Bank Account opened. Without this, you cannot open a US Business account.

It was my decision to go for the C Corp, as it's most similar to the Limited Company structure we have in the UK. Also, it would be easier to issue new shares if necessary, as I intend to go for VC funding once I've got some traction in the market. This structure makes it easier to be able to do this.

I hope your son has managed to get back on his feet - bankruptcy is a difficult thing to go through but can certainly be recovered from. Most importantly, he must retain his confidence in his abilities to drive a successful business, and learn from his mistakes. It will serve to make him a more successful person. My sincere regards to him.

Michael

He paid off those debts and didn't have to file for bankruptcy. If he would have to pay off the other things, he probably would have needed to. He got a very good job right after he closed the place down but would still like to give another business a try.

Awesome Welles

Just a light piss-taking - though it is truly horrifying how many English people adopt a nauseating, fake, mid-atlantic wank-speak, within months of arriving. They are wierdo's.
As it happens I'm in ATL myself for the next couple of days with work. it's a nice town.

Barcholder

I'm glad he seems to have gotten himself back on track and into a job. However, that bug of business ownership will always stay with him and i'm sure he will go back there some time soon.

Best of luck to him

Barcholder

I totally agree with you, though I can see the difficulty in not picking up some of the local lingo when you mix exclusively with them. This is something I'm hell bent on avoiding at all costs. I have however, resigned myself to the fact that my 5 year old daughter will be afflicted completely.

Atlanta is a great place, both to live and to do business. Low cost of living, great housing stock and fantastic weather.

Awesome Welles

I concur - phraseology compromises need to be made, if we are to be understood by our hosts. Confusion reigned until I stopped using the word pavement and switched to sidewalk. There are miriad other examples that have been done to death on here.

It's the horrendous faux accent that makes me want to punch the miscreant square in the face and suggest that they stop being so vomit inducing.
Children can be forgiven - they have to 'fit-in' with their peers and being different in any way can attract unwanted attention, so they get a free pass in my view. Adults? No - totally unacceptable behavior.

We had some friends over for a few beers and burned sausages the other day - they brought with them a recently-arrived (around 6 months) English couple, the female of which had affected the most comedic, unconvincing and inaccurate American patois. Because I'm somewhat less inclined to violent assault on the fairer sex, I could only resort to asking her why she was talking so funny and was she aware that she sounded like a total retard?
Her response was that it was something that just 'came naturally' and she simply had no control over it.

Strangely, as her concerted efforts to totally deplete my Bombay Sapphire supply intensified, her bizarre language mangling gradually reverted back to fairly obvious English home counties. I felt some sympathy for her husband, who visibly cringed with embarrasment every time she opened her gob.

As for Atlanta, it's a nice city if you are careful - and a place I would happily up-sticks from FL and move to - if only for the more pronounced changing of the seasons. There are, however, some very, very dangerous 'neighborhoods' (as with most US cities). Straying onto the wrong side of the tracks can have troubling consequences.
I'm at Perimeter North today (Dunwoody/Peachtree) so no chance of steet violence - I'm interviewing cardiologists, so I hope not, anyway.....

Barcholder

This post had me in stitches....you are so right. Nothing more annoying than hearing the fake, wannabe American accent coming from the mouth of the most prim and proper Brit. I have encountered a few of those in my time unfortunately. I guess the old saying of "monkey see, monkey do" is apt.

Regarding Atlanta, you are correct in your assessment, and as you say, that applies to pretty much every American City. The weather to me is one of the greatest attractions. I would describe it as being close to perfect for me. 4 distinct seasons, with relatively short Summer and Winter months, and more prolonged Spring and Autumn seasons. If only the UK were like that, I may not be making this move at all. The constant, oppressive heat of Florida is one of the things that put me off there as a base, together with the relative lack of big industries (in Miami, you have tourism, property development and shipping - that's about it).

Dunwoody is a great area, very high income with beautiful housing. Some of the inner city part however, are truly shocking. I drove through one on Sunday (don't ask why) and was truly appalled at the level of deprivation and poverty. You simply would not believe you could see that in supposedly the richest country in the world. Nowhere in inner City London even comes close to being that bad.

Out of interest, what do you do professionally?

scrubbedexpat099

Judging from the normal E2 applicant add Lawn and Pool Care to that list.

There are American Cities which do not have that disparity, never been to the South myself.

Awesome Welles

I work in qualitative market research - predominantly healthcare. I try to figure-out why doctors don't always do the things pharmaceutical companies want/expect them to do.

One, final observation re: Atlanta - traffic. It both sucks and blows. Worst in the south east by a huge margin.

Barcholder

Very interesting. My wife has a fairly similar role here in London with the local authority, specifically in the field of Transportation development.

And yes, the traffic situation in Atlanta really is the pits, especially during rush hour.

Barcholder

I have been back in London now for 2 days following my brief trip to Atlanta. I've managed to get the bank account opened, and have transferred the domain name into the US Corporation.

It looks like i'm all set to submit my application. I forwarded most of the required information to my attorney last night, and will forward the rest of the required information today and over the weekend. With any luck, my attorney will be happy with the content and quality of the file compiled, and be able to submit the application early next week. He will of course be demanding 50% of his not insignificant £4k fee as well.

Wish me luck.

Barcholder

This Visa application process is proving to be more stressful than I had anticipated it would be. There are so many information requirements, particularly given the nature of my application. Just when I thought I was all set to have my application submitted, my Attorney hit me with a ton of additional information requirements. Most onerous of all has proved to be the requirement to prove the source of funds used to build the website.

This has required me going back the last 4 years and trying to source historic P60's / payslips (for the period during which I was in employment), as well as for the more recent years of self employment. Lots of digging and searching through the attic unfortunately. What a drag.

My situation is further complicated by the fact that one of my main businesses is an online Sports Betting Hedge Fund - apparently, even though I have consistently made a 6 figure profit in each year of operation, I've been advised not to disclose this to the Embassy. In my attorney's own words, "they can be a bit sniffy about these things". It seems they don't like anything that it pioneering and different, which it is. When explaining to my Attorney how I devised and refined my trading product, his initial response was one of disbelief. It took a fair while to actually convince him that I truly do have an innovative trading strategy that pretty much guarantees me a good profit each year. I instantly realised why he's spot on in his assertion that I don't disclose this to the Embassy.

Then there's the whole other issue of providing proof of transfer of IP from myself into the newly created US corporation.

I have to say, I like to think of myself as being a pretty smart chap, but I think I would struggle to successfully complete the Visa application process without considerable hand holding from a good attorney. I therefore have to give ultimate respect to some of the people on this board who have apparently achieved this feat unaided.

I'm now hoping to get everything finalised in time to be submitted on the first day back after the Easter period - i.e. early May. I can then expect an approximately 3 month wait to find out whether i've been successful or not.

Barcholder

The saga continues.... I was hoping to have submitted my application by now, but there was a snag with the Intellectual Property agreement, which transfers the rights from myself to the US Company. As a result, I've been referred to an IP Lawyer in London, who is doing the needful - an additional £2k costs racked up there.

Then there is the small matter of the fact that it seems I was misinformed about the type of company to form. It turns out that non US residents can indeed set up LLP's, which is the preferable structure from a Tax Planning Perspective. My IP lawyer is now going to contact Bank of America to see whether we can transfer the bank account into a new trading LLP entity.

This is really doing my head in - I need to be out there by September at the latest, and it looks like it will be touch and go in terms of getting the visa through on time.

GeoffM

From what I've read, Corps are much more likely to get VC funding than LLC, and maybe that applies to LLP also. I'd do some more checking first before switching over! And certainly don't take my word for it.

I hope you have an exit strategy if you don't get the visa. In other words, can you get everything back that you've signed away?

Barcholder

You make some very good points, especially regarding VC funding. I met with my IP lawyer this afternoon, and he said that it would be really simple to create a new corporate structure and transfer the Going Concern into it.

The key driver around the decision to go with an LLC structure were from a tax planning perspective. We had a Tax Accountant from New York on conference call, and he was adamant that LLC structure was the way to go, in order to avoid Double Taxation of Corporate and Personal Taxes.

Your question about the ability to transfer back the IP to myself in the event that the Visa is not granted is a great one, and I'll need to discuss with the IP Lawyer tomorrow morning as a matter of urgency. Of course, i'm hoping that the application is successful.

The original plan was to house the global rights to the IP in an offshore company, and then licence the use of the US website to the US company. However, my Immigration Lawyer thinks this structure will not be accepted by the Immigration Office, as it will be difficult to argue this consitutes a firm investment into the US.

I'll be sure to provide a further update as soon as I have one. Many thanks for your points, they are extremely thought provoking.