E-2 Visa for Colombian Nationals
What is E-2 Investor Visa?
E-2 Visa is a nonimmigrant visa that allows citizens of specific countries (see list of Treaty Countries here) to travel, work and reside in the United States (with your family and you most important employees) upon an investment of a substantial amount of money in a U.S. commercial enterprise.
How much should I invest to obtain E-2 Visa?
E-2 Visa rules do not specify a minimum investment amount in order to obtain the E-2 Visa. The amount should be sufficient to sustain the initial phases of any chosen business.
Basically, the investment should be deemed substantial “in a proportional sense”, applying the so called “proportionality test.”
This test aims at establishing whether the investment is substantial compared to the total cost of either purchasing an existing business, or creating a new business from the ground-up. For more information on this topic see our article: E-2 Visa Proportionality Test.
Should I buy an existing business or create a new one?
For E-2 Visa purposes, either purchasing an existing business or creating a new one from scratch does not make any difference as long as the investment is substantial.
If you buy an existing business, the investment will consist of the purchase price plus any other additional expenses that you may incur setting up the business.
If you create your own enterprise, the investment will consist of all expenses necessary to get the business ready to operate.
Is any type of business allowed for E-2 Visa purposes?
Yes, any type of business is allowed as long as it involves an active exchange of goods or services for a price.
Passive income business, such as real estate and stocks, would lead to the disapproval of your E-2 Visa application.
What does it mean that the funds should be at risk?
A common question from the prospective investors is whether is it possible to obtain E-2 Visa before spending the funds transferred to the United States.
The simple answer is no: the whole point of E-2 Visa is to make sure you to spend money to contribute to the U.S. economy. Therefore your visa will not be granted unless and until you show that the funds have been already irrevocably put at risk (which essentially means spent without chances of getting them back if something goes wrong).
For more information on E-2 visa general requirements you can read our articles here.
Specific rules for Colombian citizens and residents
E-2 Visa rules & requirements are substantially the same worldwide. However, U.S. Embassies of certain countries, including Colombia and U.K., enforce a specific residency requirement: the applicant must have legally and / or physically resided in his / her country for a certain period of time before the E-2 Visa application can be filed.
In Colombia, the required document to certify legal and physical presence in the country is the Certification of Migratory Movements. This document includes records that appear in the Colombian Government’s database of arrivals and departures to and from Colombia of a national citizen and/or foreigner and it is issued by the administrative unit of Migración Colombia.
This certificate must be obtained within a 30-day period prior to the application and must be included in the application package.
If your Certification of Migratory Movements does not reflect your physical presence in Colombia for a minimum of one year prior to your E visa application, your appointment will be cancelled.
Differences with the UK residency requirement
U.S. Embassy in UK applies this requirement not as strictly as Colombia. Legal residency, in fact, is deemed sufficient even though the applicant was not physically present in U.K. prior to apply.
Legal residency, as opposed to physical residency, means that the applicant, although living abroad, never severed ties with UK by paying taxes, holding assets in the country, maintaining a job, among other things.
For more information regarding UK residency requirements please read our article UK Residency Requirements.
Contact E-2VisaWorld today!
We have filed E-2 Visa applications all over the world. Our E-2 Visa lawyers can counsel you regarding any specific requirements enforced by the U.S. Embassy in your country. Contact us today we’ll contact you right back to schedule an appointment.
Contact us today by filling out the form below or submitting our E-2 Visa Eligibility Survey.