Johann had built several successful companies in Bavaria and came from a family of entrepreneurs. Johann liked the tech industry and it was natural for him to pursue a venture in the Silicon Valley. Johann wanted to remain in the United States so long as he was directing his company, but he did not want to remain if he sold it or if it failed. He wanted to come strictly for business. Johann also did not want US permanent residence or citizenship because of the potential tax consequences when he would later liquidate assets in Europe that had accrued large capital gains. And he did not want to have to invest $1 million and keep a full time payroll of at least ten workers. We suggested an E-2 visa.

Johann wanted the flexibility to decide the size of his investment and payroll based on business needs.

Germany has been an E-2 treaty country since 1956.

The E-2 category requires that a national of an E-2 treaty country make a substantial investment in a US business and actively manage it. The investment must be substantial and not margianl. An investment is substantial if it is significant as a proportion of the total value of the business. The larger the value of the business, the smaller the percentage that the investor must own. An investment is marginal if it provides income only for the investor and his family. For an investment to not be marginal, the investor must have income from another source, the business must expand job opportunities locally, or the business must have a positive and significant impact on the local economy.

There is no minimum investment for an E-2 enterprise. But generally investments of less than $100,000 will require a persuasive explanation. The State Department presumes that investments of more than $1 million are substantial.

A crucial piece of the E-2 process is the business plan. We help our clients produce outstanding business plans by using a careful formula derived from immigration law cases and business plan drafting books. Often investors and entrepreneurs who are good at building businesses need help with business plans. But Johann did not require help because he had a Ph.D. in economics and regularly wrote business plans.

We prepared and filed Johann's E-2 application with the US Embassy in Berlin. The Embassy promptly approved the application. Johann used Olender for years afterwards to file E-2s and H-1Bs for software engineers and other technical employees. He is still a client.

For more information on E-2 treaty investor visas, visit our treaty investor page by clicking here.

As they say, geiz ist geil.