E1 Visa – Substantial Trade?

Part 1  Part 2   Part 3   Part 4 –
Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8

The American Dream is Alive and Well
Checkout Our Visa Approvals Gallery
Home Page / Investment Visa Home Page

This video discusses how much trade a foreign country must have with the US to qualify for this E1 visa. If you’d like a free consultation to discuss this topic further please call 310 496 4292 today.

E1 Visa – What Constitutes Substantial Trade for E1 Visa Purposes

Welcome to the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram. We are delighted that you have joined us for Part 4 in our video presentation series on the E1 Treaty Trader visa. Ok – lets get started.

How Much Trade Do I Need to Show?  – This is great question, but providing one-size fits all definition may be difficult. Here is how we would approach the issue,  the adjudicating officer will look at your overall business model and ask is there a continuous flow of goods or services between the two countries. Thus, is in example 2 two where Mary Jones’ call center in the Philippines was providing medical billing services for US Doctors offices you can see there would be a continuous flow of services being exchanged. Thus the starting point is to look at the frequency of the transactions.

Secondly, the officer will consider the monetary value of each transaction, thus in the case of John Smith who imported carpets to his Canadian store, John may place single orders worth $150,000 four times per year, thus over the course of one year John may transact $600,000 worth of business which is quite substantial.

Finally, the officer will need to consider whether the volume and value of trade will generate more than enough net profit to support the alien who will be living in the US securing the international flow of business.

Therefore to resolve the question as to what will constitute substantial trade you have look at how much business will you need to transact between the US and your home country to make sufficient profit to support you and your family to the extent that it would make sense for a foreign company to post you in the US. In other words, when all said and done the foreign company net benefit was tiny then the adjudicating officer could determine that the trade was not substantial at all.

What if My Company Trades with Multiple Countries? –  If you company has trade with other countries apart from then the rule is that 50% of the trade must be with the US. Thus if the foreign company is only does 20% of its business with the US and 80% is with various other countries then the application would fail.  It’s worth noting that some foreign companies also to business within the US for their US clients. In this case as long 50% of the foreign company’s total trade flows outside the US to their home company then the 50% rule is still satisfied.

Alternative Strategy – Where a company cannot meet the 50% rule due to is international clientele, it may be a good idea to create a subsidiary company specifically for growing a trading partnership with the US that did no trade or very little trade with other countries. Please note that a new branch would not do since a branch is really an arm or continuation of the foreign company, whereas a subsidiary is an independent entity. Specific legal advice would need to be sought to ensure that where meeting this 50% rule is potentially an issue that any alternate strategy is compliant with the regulations.

Ok – In the next presentation we’ll discuss the employment options for E1 visa holders. Thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoyed this E1 Visa presentation.

Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
401 Wilshire Boulevard, 12th Floor,
[Cross Streets 4th and Wilshire]
Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292

Specializing in the E2 Visa, EB1 Green Card, L-1A Visa and O1 Visa and K1 Visa Marriage-Based Immigration. Attorney Chris M. Ingram is dedicated to providing the very best in US Immigration legal representation. Enjoy our website.

Important Notice: Please note that all videos created by the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram are intended as general information only and not specific legal advice pertaining your case. If you would like specific legal advice on any immigration matter please do not hesitate to contact this law office accordingly. All pictorial images used in these videos and the website in general are licensed stocked images and not portraits, or otherwise, of anyone from the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram, nor of its clients unless otherwise indicated by name. All images are used solely for illustrative purposes only. Copyright 2010-2015 All Rights Reserved.