The United States Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal has just announced its readiness to accept E-1 Treaty Trader and E-2 Treaty Investor visa applications. This comes after the December 2022 passage of the James N. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which recognized Portugal as a treaty country. The program’s roll out has been much anticipated and is welcomed by Luso-American legal and business alliances.
The E-1 visa for treaty traders allows for nationals of certain countries with which the U.S. has a treaty of commerce and navigation or international agreement or that has been deemed a qualifying country by legislation (treaty country) to enter the U.S. to conduct international trade through a U.S. business. The treaty investor may themselves own 50% or more of the business or own a majority of the business along with other treaty country nationals.
The E-2 visa for treaty investors allows a national of a treaty country to be admitted to the U.S. when investing in a U.S. business of which they or fellow treaty country nationals own a majority. E-1 and E-2 visas may also be granted to certain qualifying employees of the U.S. investment enterprise who share the company’s nationality.
The E visa category has several significant benefits:
- The spouse of an E visa holder is authorized to work “incident to status” (i.e., immediately upon entry into the U.S.
- There is no obligation for an E visa holder to keep a foreign affiliate company operational, unlike the L-1 visa for intracompany transferees.
- There is no statutory cap on the number of visas issued annually, unlike the H-1B visa for specialty occupations.
- E visas are renewable indefinitely, as long as the applicant continues to qualify.
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