More about Soft Land Partners and the Meetup schedule here
More about Angie Rupert and Rupert Law here
Bill : Welcome to the soft land central podcast, your home for market entry knowledge and resources. Soft land central is brought to you by soft land partners, an online marketplace to help you find best fit resources for your market entry. Find them at softlandpartners.com Well. Hi everybody. Welcome to soft land Central and this is the hub of market entry information, knowledge and connections. So today we are so privileged to have Angie Rupert with us from Rupert law in Los Angeles. Hi, Angie, how are you doing?
Angie: Hello, Bill. I’m great. Thanks. Thanks so much for having me.
Bill : Oh, my pleasure. So Angie for everybody. So everybody knows Angie is an immigration law expert and, and particularly her focus is the eetu visa. But she is really an expert on helping entrepreneurs come into the US and be able to immigrate successfully into the US. So, Angie, you know, it’s really been great to get to know you. But obviously our audience doesn’t we have people from all over the world and you know, many of which are looking to, if not now, in some, at some point, begin doing business in the US. So, before we kind of hop into the details of the specific opportunities or pathways, it would be great to get to know you a little bit. So can you talk a little bit about your background and about Rupert law in your specialty?
Angie: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So I’ve been doing immigration law for several years now. And specifically, as you mentioned, the E2 and helping entrepreneurs through a variety of other visas. And, and yeah, I’m in Los Angeles. My law firm helps people all over the world, get to the United States and run businesses or work at foreign owned businesses here in the United States.
Bill : Cool, and how did you happen to pick immigration law obviously, there are a lot of different choices. So Law why immigration law?
Angie: Yeah, it was a it was kind of an interesting you know, detour I started in other types of law and doing all kinds of other things. As in this kind of modern world I’ve had, I feel like I’ve had like 25 different careers. But I immigration so far has been the best one. But there’s a great program here in Los Angeles, the LA County Bar Association has an immigration project. And on some years ago, when I had a baby, I needed just some time off. And so I started volunteering there twice a week, and I started learning all the ropes and really seeing how impactful this area of law is. Sometimes you’ll hear that from attorneys that you know, I just was kind of sick of making rich people richer. That kind of attitude was kind of hard to feel good about like your actual day to day. Immigration was great. I love the clients. I liked the work is really rewarding. And then once I kind of went out on my own, I found that The entrepreneurs who are coming here or the most exciting for me. So that’s really where I’ve been focusing for several years now.
Bill : That’s Oh, that’s great. So you just mentioned the entrepreneurs, the clients who you work with, can you give us a little bit of a profile of what the clients that you work with? What do they typically look like? Or there’s, you know, certain parameters that make someone really a good fit for your service?
Angie : Yeah, absolutely. Um, most clients, but not all own companies in their home country or in another country outside of the United States. And they want to start something here, maybe it’s related to the business in the other country, maybe it’s not, maybe it’s something brand new that they’re really ready to try. That is a lot of that a lot of the clients kind of fit into that category. Some also say, Hey, I have a company in country x. I also have a company in the United States and I want to send some people over to the United States to help in that company. And so that’s another kind of area. And, and so you know, they are the client, but actually the employees are who are going to be coming over. And then sometimes it’s the investors I want to start a new business in the United States, or I recently started it, but it’s kind of floundering. I’m the one that I want to go over and work in it. So those are generally the types. You know, I have people from all over the world, doing all sorts of things. I guess that’s the exciting part is I have some of the most interesting businesses and interesting entrepreneurs and business owners and employees specially skilled or manager eligible employees coming to the US so and we have people going all over the US I have clients right now going to Virginia, North Carolina, Hawaii, Texas, you know, California, of course, like all over so yeah, that’s kind of it’s kind of diverse in that way.
Bill : Really cool. So one other thing we should just talk about it specifically about you is your knowledge. The chapter leader for soft land partners and the LA chapter and you’re going to be running meetups in LA for market entry professionals. And that to me, it also, you know, really complements what you do as a practitioner for your clients building that network and really helping your clients connect in a variety of ways. So can you give a little highlight as to kind of where your first meetup is this coming Wednesday? What do you What are you excited about with that?
Angie : Well, you kind of hit the nail on the head bill because it really is about you know, I take pride in the services that I offer, but I’m pretty limited, right? So I only do immigration and people say Okay, so what about if I have an S corp or you can’t have an S corp? What if I have a C Corp and then I want to pay incorporate, but then I need to pay taxes in Nevada unlike that would be a great question for someone else. And let me direct you to that person. Um, you know, in particular tax is one of those interesting things because the United States has different treaties with every country. And so, you know, folks like that, obviously lots of people who can help people incorporate and give them this is the tax benefit of doing an LLC versus an incorporation versus a partnership versus this state mastic. And then, you know, I places they’re like, well, I need an office, like, Where should I go? Well, you know, there, the possibilities are limitless. But let me give you someone who can guide you based on what you’re telling me that you need your budget where you want it, that kind of thing. So I have found and I think that that you have as well, which is why you kind of started the whole organization is people need way more than one person and to kind of handle things right. The United States is a very large country, both population wise, but also geographically. So sometimes it’s great to have a big group Because, you know, for immigration, I can do it for any state, federal law is all the same. But banking in New York is different than banking in Vermont is different than banking in Hawaii or Washington State, you know, and so having that great partnership really helps. And I think that it makes the clients Most importantly, a really feel comfortable on. Some of them have a very long history with the United States and currently live here doing something else. And they have it, they know what they’re doing. Some people I’ve had clients who have never ever been to the United States and are getting one of these visas. So for them, it’s very important to have this great group and a network and it’s important for me, because I don’t want to say, I don’t know, I mean, major it out I guess I have no idea. You know, that’s a not a great answer to give. So, if I could one moment too, with the soft landing, one of the ways that that group is specific Please help me I don’t know if you remember this, it was probably about six months ago, I had a potential client call me from Morocco. And she was going to be doing rugs like, really nice. And she’s like, Okay, well, I really need information about like distribution centers for, you know, rugs and like some of the different materials we’re going to need in the United States. Well, let me check with a friend so that I called you and you actually connected me with someone. That’s right. And you connected me with someone who was able to at least give some preliminary answers for this potential client. So it’s just one example. So yeah,
Bill : very good. So yeah, having that deep bullpen to be able to, to help clients in a variety of ways. Sure. Yeah. It’s all good. So well, let’s hop into our topic because this is, I know, a huge question for a lot of entrepreneurs. And it’s something that’s been dynamic immigration law has changed, you know? administrational it’s changed So, significantly and so, I know when I travel abroad it is a consistent question I get is sort of what’s it like entering the US and how do we do it? So, you know, looking today for entrepreneurs, and you what are the various choices in terms of visa types that an entrepreneur has to choose from?
Yeah, I mean, there are a variety and they each have their own kind of special requirements. So it really depends on the individual, which one I would recommend, and I focus on the two so you know, I think they’re a great visa and a great option, but for some people will work for variety of reasons, but usually, most entrepreneurs are looking at either an L1 and E2, or maybe an O1. That would be those would be the most common and most frequent and probably the best fit for most. There’s also an EB1 Which is a green card. And there’s an EB5 for those who are starting much larger companies in the United States. And there might even be an H1B option, maybe. So there were a few others that are kind of borderline and would have to be a very specific facts that but generally speaking, you’re looking at the L1 and E2 are the two most popular.
Bill : Yeah, right. So let’s, go in and talk about the L1 then. So can you give some depth to so what are the parameters of an L1? What are the strengths of it? Yeah, for an entrepreneur.
Angie : Absolutely. So an L1 is for either an executive, or someone who is a specially skilled employee to come from a company in a foreign country, anywhere in the world that is legally affiliated with a company here in the United States. Maybe it’s a subsidiary, maybe it’s a parent, maybe it’s just an affiliate or a variety. have different ways, but it needs to be legally affiliated. And so they must have worked for the foreign company for at least one year in the last three years. And then they want to come to the US company. There is something at known as the new office option. So Oh, I own this company in country x, we have 12 employees, I want to launch the US branch. So I’m going to be coming over here to do that. That would be one example or, oh, I have this company in the United or and in the United Kingdom, let’s say and I want to start the US company. But I need one of my employees to come over and train some of the US employees for a short amount of time, maybe a year, maybe two years, something like that. That would be an example. requirements would be there has to be a foreign company. Always, always, always if that foreign company closes, you’re out. And then also you have to whoever is going to be coming on the L1, whether that’s an employee and executive, the investor himself or herself. You have to have worked for the foreign company for at least one year, in the last three years.
Bill : Is there a profile of entrepreneur that that l one is particularly geared for or you would find best fit for it?
Bill: Yeah, the L1 is actually geared toward the larger company. Um, it’s my understanding that it was kind of originated for folks like Disney, Coca Cola, Toyota, these types of places, these types of places. Over the years, it has certainly seen many small businesses and medium sized so that’s not necessarily a deterrent. But the real reason that this visa exists is for international employees. Apple, oh, we have these people they’ve worked in the Brazil office. Now we need to move on. In the US for, you know, x y & z reason, that kind of thing, usually, but again, it is possible for small and medium companies, but it really was kind of that international executive, you know, we’ve got 35 offices around the world on moving somebody to the San Diego.
Bill : And what do you find the weakness of the L1 is what are the, you know, what are the challenges with it? Typically,
Angie : I think the challenges are, first of all, you have to go through two different processes, you go through the USCIS, which is the Department of Homeland Security here in the US, and then you also go through the Department of State, so you go through the consulate or embassy in the country that you live in. So you kind of have two different processes that you have to get approved through and they believe it or not, do not have to agree with one another at all, in fact, so just because you pass one doesn’t mean you’re going to pass the other. I would also say that for the new business, so Oh, I have this company. I want to start it. One, you have to renew within a year. So sometimes that’s difficult, sometimes that renewal is difficult because maybe the year, you know, what if you did it this year, right, so we have some challenges economically and financially in the world. And so you know, maybe that’s going to be a real problem for people who need to renew really quickly, like that. So I would say those are the weaknesses. Also, depending on which type of you get, whether you’re an executive or whether you’re an especially skilled person, you know, they go for a number of years, but there’s an end point, either you kind of get the green card or you leave at some point. And for like, especially skilled, that would be very difficult to get a green card. So, you know, it could be good. If you think, Hey, we’re going to launch and we’re going to have multiple employees, we’re going to have revenues and all of that within a year. And I really need to be there for like two or three years to kind of get that going and then I’m happy to leave. It may be a great option but you If you’re concerned that it may take a few years to ramp up, if you’re like, Hey, I really want to be in the US, like, maybe you’d like for a long time maybe or, you know, that kind of thing. It may not be the best option.
Bill : Got it? Okay. Is there anything else about the L1 that would be important for entrepreneurs to know about?
Angie : Um, you know, I think that that’s a really great question, actually. I don’t know nothing I can think of
Bill : Okay, and I’m not suggesting that there is but I did I know not being an expert myself. I want to make sure that we didn’t leave out.
Angie : I think the big ones there are you need to keep the foreign company and not just a name right. There needs to be employees in the foreign company that the foreign company needs to go as long as somebody’s here on the oil and also, you know, you need to have worked for that foreign company for at least one in the last three years. And leave us company needs to be building where relatively quickly in order to do that, the new office VISA?
Bill : Yeah. So well, let’s talk about the two then. And that’s certainly that’s, that’s your that’s your hope you have home court advantage on that one. So tell us about the E2 here. What are the sort of basics of it? So we have a good understanding?
Angie : Yeah. So we think this is a great, this is a great visa, again, you can do it as an investor, or you can do it as an employee if you were manager or skilled, essential skilled employee. And so as an investor, basic, you need to be from a treaty country, there are 68 I should know the exact number there are many of them, but a lot of countries are not right. So Brazil, China, India, Russia, none of them are treaty countries. There are some other ways to get a treaty country passport, if it’s very important to you, but let’s say you’re from Canada or you’re from Bulgaria, or you’re from Argentina, right all treaty countries. As an investor, you need to invest in the United It states Hey, I want to start this company can be any you would buy something, start something, it can be anything that is for profit and legal. And I’m going to, you know, invest, I’m going to get an office, I’m going to invest in some inventory or what have you, or I’m going to purchase this business. You do that first, then you apply for the visa says, hey, I’ve already invested, you know, $200,000 in a business in the United States, here’s how I’ve done it receipts, bank statements, etc. and apply for the visa you can come over for a matter of years. It depends on what country you’re from how long you have that option. And after, you know, when that visa needs to be renewed, you can renew it, as long as the company still meets the requirements. You can renew it for the next 30 years, 40 years renewable indefinitely. So it’s a really great option for people who want to stay and they’re like, Hey, I think I want to live in the US but maybe for the rest of my life. This could be a great option.
Bill : Cool. So you mentioned buying or acquiring a business. It could also be if I want to open an office here, or anything like that, where we’re where you’re hiring people and or buying property, setting up manufacturing, whatever. It’s really measuring that total investment. So and you had mentioned $200,000, is there a minimum threshold? In terms of from a treaty country?
Angie : No, there is not. There’s nothing that is written down. Now. attorneys that work with these will tell you it really, I mean, you’re at a bare bones minimum, but about 100,000. us. But again, as you mentioned, the true requirement is that you invest a substantial amount. That’s the requirement. So we know that that means they’re looking for a six figure investment essentially. But as you mentioned, hey, I’m going to start a, you know, manufacturing, I’m going to be manufacturing cars. I’m going to I’m bringing it back to Detroit. To do that, you may need millions of dollars to invest in order to get any to bear because you know, everyone I mean, if you’re to start that and invest $100,000, that’s not going to get you through the door, right? So, but hey, I’m going to start, I’m a CPA, I’m going to start a small kind of family CPA firm in Lincoln, Nebraska, hundred thousand dollars, we’ll probably do it, right, you get an office, you get a few computers, you get a few things in there. And you can probably do it for 100,000. So really is based on the location and also the type of business,
Bill : Right? It’s a sales office versus manufacturing, versus whatever.
Angie : Yes, exactly.
Bill : So you had mentioned that there are some pathways for non treaty country entrepreneurs. So can you I know, that gets a little bit complex, but could you talk a little bit about that? So people have a sense of those pathways?
Angie : Yeah, so there’s kind of this whole world and industry and some of your viewers may know about it, but in citizenship or residency by investment, there are many countries that offer this around the world. The United States actually offers an EB five, which is a green card for a minimum of $900,000. us. But there are countries, particularly Turkey and Grenada that offer citizenship for a certain investment in the company to those countries. They each have different requirements. And I certainly am not an expert on any of it. But it is for a relatively small amount, something around 200 $250,000 you invest in certain things within some months, not years, but months, you get a passport from those countries. So either one of those countries is a treaty country. They both allow for visas for five years at a time, which is the longest anyone allows for an E2 treaty or visa. And then of course, you can renew indefinitely but yeah, so both of those I would say a Grenada or a turkey passport is how most people from non treaty countries do it. There are a variety of pieces I won’t get into it, where they care about where you were born and what you were born what citizenship you were born as the two does not the second you get that Grenada, citizenship in the mail, even if you’ve never been to Grenada, which I actually have a client currently in that situation. You are a Grenada citizen for purposes of the E2 visa. So as long as you’ve got that passport, and then of course, there may be other ways, right? I know. There’s a lot of Brazilians, not a treaty country, but many of them have European passports, Italian passports or those types of things. They are all treaty country citizens as far as that is concerned. So if you get it through family or some other way, totally fine. But that’s, that’s what they need is they just need that passport that is valid with your name on it, and you’re in.
Bill : So you could if you had a great Grenadian passport, you could not only get an E2 visa potentially go to the Olympics for Grenada, so Maybe a double threat.
Angie : If you’re like super good at skiing I presume the Grenada ski team is not great. I don’t know that for sure. But yeah, for sure.
Bill : We some space on the bobsled team. Yeah,
Angie : yeah.
Bill : Brilliant. So how about E2 sounds like there’s some significant strengths what would be the kind of key strengths of E2.
Angie : the E2 is great because you’re running your own business, right? I mean as an investor, again, there are E2 employees. But as an investor, you’re running your own business, you’re doing your own thing and you can pick whatever you want. That is legal and for profit, so whatever you want. So that’s, I think, a great strength. Another great strength is you have time to ramp up the business. The requirements are that the business pays you enough to support your family and that you have employees at the end of five years now, Attorney attorneys that are in the know will tell you you need employees before that time, but there are no minimum employees either you don’t have to have 10 or 15 or two It really depends on the business and gives you some time and some breathing room to really develop the business before you have to go for the renewal. For most countries, you have very flexible travel. Most not all, you have to check your passport because some countries I, for instance, I have an Egyptian client right now, their visa with Egypt is only good for one entry, which is not great. But you know, most European countries, even South American countries that are eligible: Canada, Australia, there’s a lot of different countries, a lot of Asian countries are unlimited travel, so that’s really great. You can renew this for the rest of your life. Um, your spouse will be with you as long as you’re here. Your spouse will be here, your spouse will get a work permit and can work anywhere he or she wishes including starting their own business working for you. They do not need separate sponsorship to work anywhere. As long as I mean if they want to be a teacher and that school will hire them, then their teacher they can do whatever they want. The kids are here until they’re 21 years old and can attend any school they wish to. I think in that way, it gives a lot of flexibility. Not to mention that this is a visa that the US government likes, they like you’re writing checks, you’re hiring Americans, they are interested that they love that. So really, you know, with good document preparation and a great business, you’ve got a really good shot of getting this visa. So those are the things I really love about it.
Bill : Cool. And I know some visas have an annual limit in terms of the number of people they let in to E2 have any kind of limitation, enter. So it’s really not it’s really opportunistic, and
Angie : it is and that’s the other great thing. There’s not a wait time you’re not going to be, it’s not like the EB5 right. A lot of people are looking for alternatives. That’s what the E2 is. A great alternative. There aren’t any wait times other than getting your interview, which usually is in a matter of, you know, four to eight weeks. So as soon as you get your documents together and submit, you’re waiting a couple of months to get your interview. And so it’s not years and years, you could get here quickly. There are no limits. You know, there are some very popular countries or there are, you know, a handful of countries that do the vast majority of these, but that’s fine. What it doesn’t matter. There’s no way times nothing. So it’s, it’s great in that way as well.
Bill : Cool. What is you mentioned interview, what does the interview process look like? What you know, what are out of what should people be prepared for and come to the interview?
Angie : Yeah, and that’s, that’s one of the things that’s a great question, and I get that from everyone. That is something that I really strive to do very well too is, once we have that interview date, usually we will get that from the conflict. Every conflict kind of operates their interview schedule differently, but usually they will contact us and say It’s going to be may 2 or whatever. And then I will do a fake interview with a person, right? So we will go over, there are usually a set list of questions. Now after speaking with people who have historically work for conflicts around the world, that’s kind of how it goes. They have a set list of questions, they will usually ask questions like, why are you going to be successful with this business? Why did you choose this business? If you have a business partner? Who is this person? How do you know this person? Those are very common questions. How much did you invest in this business? How many employees do you expect to have in this business on you know, in year two, in year five, that kind of thing. Um, you know, if you have a kind of more obscure type of business, they may ask, what is this? Even if it’s explained, you know, if you are operating a sushi restaurant, you’re not going to get that question by I’ve had some people who have done some real Kind of interesting businesses like very kind of, oh, wow, I didn’t even know people did this for a job. Very interesting. So you get more questions about what is this? I don’t understand this because I don’t. Um, and so and then there may be a few questions that relate specifically to you like, Oh, I see that you’re missing this and this and this. Why, what happened here? Or can you explain how you got your money because I understand this one thing, but then this wasn’t clear, you know, that would be on a case by case basis. Yeah, that’s what goes there. Usually, depending on the country, depending on the interviewer, depending on the interviewee, tend to 15 minutes to look at the consulate or embassy in your home country. And then usually they’ll either approve you or deny you like right there. So you’ll know there’s no more waiting. Typically,
Bill : it doesn’t sound like there’s any algebra or calculus questions. Yeah,
Angie : no, no. No physics, quizzes, everything. They just want to make sure you know what you was in your application and somebody else didn’t just do it for you, and you’re kind of along for the ride. But that’s, that’s the biggest thing.
Bill : Very cool. Very cool. And weaknesses, what would be the weaknesses? The E2?
Angie : Well, I think the biggest one is one we’ve already covered, which is you’ve got to be a citizen of a treaty country. So if you’re not, again, you can kind of get a workaround, but there’s an extra step there. So it’s not available to just anyone. You know, of course, there is an investment upfront and a lot of people are nervous about that, which I get. And, you know, you need to invest the money before you apply for the visa. So in some instances, that means Hey, you don’t get this visa, it’s gonna be a problem. Right? And I always tell people, though, you know, those visas are generally as we talked about, they like these types of visa. So they are generally approved worldwide, right. And if you’re working with an attorney, your approval rate did the goes up for sure. So that’s the good news. And I also tell people, hey, you bought this business worst case scenario, somebody will buy it from you, right? Or you bought the inventory, sell it. And that usually doesn’t happen because most people get approved for these things. In addition, you are not locked to, hey, if you don’t get it in the first interview, it’s over. Because sometimes you go you answer a question. They don’t really understand it, or maybe they need a little bit more information or Hey, could you bring this back? Like we’re asking for these documents, you can bring them in you do the minute you do that, you bring it back and you could be approved on a second interview. It’s inconvenient, and it’s not great, but it can happen. So anyway, I digress a little bit, but yeah, because needing to be a member of a treaty country and needing to get that investment upfront. Those are probably the two biggest deterrence. But if you have a legitimate business, which all of my clients do, I wouldn’t take it otherwise your odds of getting approved or are really good.
Bill : Well, that’s great. And are there anything else with the E2 that would be helpful for our audience to know.
Angie : Yeah, I mean, I would think the flexibility is just so great. In my opinion, I really just allows you, I get that call, well, should I buy a business? Should I start a business? And I’m like, I don’t know. What do you like, what do you want to do? And I get calls sometimes to be like, Oh, you know, my cousin found this, you know, gas station, and maybe I can buy it and I’m like, you can, if you have been destined to run a gas station, then you should. But if you want to be an accountant, or if you want to run a marketing company, or if you’ve always wanted to have an ice cream shop, you should do that instead. Because, you know, for the E2 here’s actually another answer to your question in the wrong way. But sometimes people get confused, especially People who know about the EB5, but maybe don’t know about the E2, it’s a little bit rarer. It’s not rare, but it’s not as popular and hasn’t gotten a lot of press as Eb5. So when the EB5, you make the investment, you sit back for several years, then they call your number, and you come over here and you kind of move on, right? Many of those investments are through, oh, we’re helping build this new stadium in the middle of Denver or where you know, whatever I mean, you’re not going to work there, you know, you write the check, you wait. and away you go right after your time. Or E2, you are expected to direct and develop the business. So if you buy a gas station, you’re going to be working at that gas station. So if that’s what you really want to do, you should do it. But if you’re thinking, I don’t think that running a gas station for the next 30 years is my calling, then you should do something else because anything is possible as long as it’s legal and for profit, you know, when it’s offering a good or service anything is possible. Same with the location. Well, my cousin lives in Vermont, but I really hate the snow. I’m like, Vermont is not the place for you. Like you need to go wherever go to Phoenix, whatever you want to do. So it’s really flexible in that way. But, know that whatever it is that you are purchasing or starting, you are going to need to work in it. Like, most days, you know, you’re going to be directing and developing this business. So pick something you like or interested in or feel really confident. That’s what you should be doing.
Bill : Cool. Well, that sounds really good. And so you had mentioned the O1, visa within this group of possibilities, although probably not as strong a possibility. Can you give us a little bit of an overview of the O1?
Angie : Sure. So the old one is called extraordinary ability. There are two O ones, there’s an O1A, which is what we’d be talking about more on the business side. So you have an extraordinary ability and business science, that type of thing. O1B is much more popular one as far as just kind of out in sight guys what people know about and that is the actor, singer, dancer that’s in the arts. So a lot of your favorite celebrities are probably you’re on an O1. But there is an O1A which is for folks in the sciences and in business. It is a little bit less popular because you need to have extraordinary ability. And sometimes, if you are in the world of CPAs, for example, how do you prove that you’re extraordinary, right? So as an actor, you can say, Oh, I won an Academy Award, I did this I went to Can I was in this commercial. I have, you know, 400 million followers on Instagram, all of that. For a CPA, though, sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to prove that you’re extraordinary as a CPA, right. So it’s a little bit trickier in that way. Also, you need to have someone Who can hire you and fire you? Right? So you either need a board, you need a business partner of some sorts, because it is not a self petition, someone needs to petition for you. So it is a job, essentially. Again, you could have some ownership in the company for sure. But, so those are two that make it a little bit more difficult. I didn’t own O1A some years ago, for someone who was in the world of biotechnology and had kind of invented this drink. It’s very interesting. That’s why I love my job because I’m like, Whoa, somebody could do that. Like, that’s amazing. It’s the same thing that I feel when I watch you Dancing with the Stars. I’m like, God, you can dance like, what does that feel like? Like, you know, like, you know, snapping my fingers and walking at the same time sometimes is a problem. But, uh, so he invented this drink. And so as a result of that, he got tons of press for it. It was in the sciences and in business, right? Because he had like, launched this drink and they were pitching it here and pitching it there. And then he wanted to come to the US to do more. So that’s like a great example of somebody that may fit with an O1A., but you know, I’ve kind of run my own hair salon for the last 10 years. Like, I don’t maybe maybe you got pressed on it, I don’t know, maybe you make millions and millions of dollars. But it’s somewhat difficult if you don’t have one of those kind of, I guess a you know what, I guess, like a high profile or like a job that people would kind of consider to be extraordinary kind of so.
Bill : So you’re saying my hairdresser, probably not a good candidate? does a
Angie : Really good job.
Bill Very simple. Mind. Exactly. Um, that’s really okay. So that’s cool. So the O1 very specialized. People with really unique skills, probably me thinking of the sciences and you know, the high tech area Could be somebody with a robotics company that has some unique application or Yes. or some type of biotech type company that has some novel.
Angie: Yeah, that would be a great fit because you have somebody like an Elan Musk, who probably has a green card, but you know, doesn’t that’s a very extreme. You don’t need to be that extreme. Right. You can be just a regular kind of person too. But yeah, I mean, we’re, oh, I actually I had a person called me once. Who He was super young, too. I was like, he’s like, 20 or something like, Oh, I got to know one day, because, you know, he had to develop some app, and they’ve written tons of articles about it. I don’t remember what it was, but you know, something like that. Oh, yeah. I’ve been and and even without outside of that, you know, it’s possible that hey, within all of these trade publications, you know, I’m in the world of, you know, re upholstery, but I’ve been in every trade publication like I’ve designed fabric for, you know, the Queen of England, and I done that, you know, there are ways that you can kind of get it. But we’re kind of just your regular person who’s good at what they do, but maybe just has kind of more of an ordinary type job or whatever. It’s a little bit difficult to show that you’re extraordinary to meet those requirements. Yeah,
Bill : yeah. When you have on your client list, the Queen of England, that’s a problem. Yeah.
Angie: If you’re in if you’ve got that you’d like right? Maybe she even submits a letter. Oh, my God, this is the best chair I’ve ever owned. Probably probably get your visa,
Bill : you go to the front of the line. Okay, so we’ve talked about the L1, the E2 and O1. And if you did mention the EB5, and I know there are others, but are there what are their visas? Could we just chat about is just maybe in a light way about, you know, other alternatives or pathways, maybe not as preferred or as specific entrepreneurs, but are there are there any others that entrepreneurs should know about.
Angie: And yeah, you mentioned the EB5. Some people do, as we talked about there are, most people do what they call regional centers, which is Oh, yeah, they’re building a new stadium in Denver. They’re building this huge, you know, Conference Center in Minneapolis or what have you. That’s what most people do, because you beat the employee requirements to meet all of the investment, that kind of thing. But some do what they call direct investments. So going back to that manufacturing company, right, oh, I’m going to be manufacturing cars. Well, you’re going to be millions of dollars and before you’re ready to apply, and you’re obviously gonna have lots of employees. So that may be a way just skip the two altogether, get that going and apply for the EB5 which is a green card, right? It’s an investor green card. Again, it’s a minimum of $900,000 at this point. If you’re within an economically designated area, they are still get tougher on what that those areas are. So it may be that you need a minimum of $1.8 million, which is the next. But certainly if you’re investing more than $1.8 million, the EB5 will work for you. You know, if you if you meet the other requirements, employment requirements, requirements, that type of thing. So that’s one option for entrepreneurs who are like, hey, go big or go home, I know what I’m doing. I’m going to be doing this big, you know, manufacturing, I got all this stuff and all these employees, the EB5 could be a great option. There is a way to get an H1B, but I never recommend H1B’s for a variety of reasons, the largest of which is it is a random lottery. So if you are not chosen from a completely random lottery, you have to wait another year to apply again in a random lottery. So I never recommend that one unless that is literally the only thing you can do, which is not going to really be for this crowd that that’s watching today. There is an E1. So when E1 is similar requirements to an E2, except for it is a company based only on trade. So you have to be trading primarily between the United States and your home country, you can trade some other international places as well, but goods or services between your home country and the United States, that is an E1. There are a few countries where an E2 is available and an E2 is not. Those are usually the only countries that I recommend for an E1, because any two almost is the same except for then you don’t have to worry about keeping your trade only to one country you can expand beyond just trade. So an E1 is an option if you are from a country that allows you one not to Greece is one of those countries, for example, or anything of others. Israel used to be Israel was just approved for an E2 about a year ago, but before that Israel was E1 only. There are a handful of countries here’s and that is I would see for the vast majority, it’s going to be in there and mostly L1 E2. Yeah, that’s majority.
Bill : Sounds good. So how do entrepreneurs navigate the process? I’m in, you know, pick a country. You mentioned Brazil, obviously, that’s a little more complicated because they’re not a treaty country. Maybe if we could talk about sort of a non treaty company, or country and then navigating the process, from say, Brazil, and then maybe a treaty company like the country like the UK, you know, what’s the how do we navigate that? So maybe taking the non treaty, country first, how does an entrepreneur navigate that?
Bill : Right? So hey, I am a well I guess there’s a few different things. So I have a Brazilian passport. I’m a Brazilian citizen, lived in Brazil my whole life or not, whatever, but that’s my passport. So there’s two different ways you could go about it. Number one is I own a company and Brazil that has multiple employees, I plan on keeping that country in Brazil and I’m going to start a new company in the United States. Great. You might be a perfect fit for no one. Option two. I do not have a company in Brazil, but I’ve saved my whole life. I’ve got this investment. Next step. Do you have Italian relatives? Maybe you can get an Italian passport? Or are you able to get a turkey or a Grenada passport? Or another one? Maybe? I mean, who knows? You might have relatives in Canada or I have no idea. You know, I would it but if, you know if you don’t have the dual citizenship already, you’ve probably already explored that in Brazil. It’s one of those countries that just almost everybody has dual citizenship that can, right. So maybe that’s where you say, Okay, I’m going to get the Grenada citizenship. I’m going to get the turkey citizenship and I’m going to go for the E2. If you know if you are playing more of a long game, maybe you say all right, maybe what I’ll do is I’ll start a company in Brazil and in three years from now, I’ll apply for the L. Right? I know that I’m going to need to get some employees, I’m going to need to get some revenues, I’m going to need this elder this business to be able to run by itself a lot of the time, right? Because I’m going to be in the United States a majority of the time, then you can start that. You could also say, if neither one of those you feel like is going to work for you, then you say, hey, all right, I’ve got a couple of buddies that live in Colorado. And maybe we could all start a company together. And it’s going to be I know, you know, we have some ability in X, Y, and Z area. What I’m going to do for the next 24 months is I’m going to be in every blog, trade publication, whatever I’m going to get my salary up here in Brazil, I’m going to try to meet those extraordinary ability requirements of the one. So what I would say probably an L or an E2 Through that second passport are probably going to be better bet. But again, that kind of just gives you an example, right? Like, we’ll do a friend that you could open a business with, do you already own a business? Could you get a second passport? All of those things are questions, right? And then we’ll kind of put you into whatever category. Also, hey, I’m a Brazilian citizen, I don’t have anything else going on. I don’t even have a company, but I inherited about 2 million bucks. Ah, Eb5, right. So there’s another option for somebody from the UK or Canada or Argentina or, you know, myriad of other countries. You would say, Hey, I’m ready to start a business in the United States. What do I want to start? That’s always the first question: What business do you want to start by? People come to me what do I buy or start like I’ve no idea and I wouldn’t even recommend to you because you would probably hate whatever I recommend it anyway. whatever country company you want to buy or start in whatever state You want to buy our started in doesn’t matter to me, and then kind of go through that E2 process, which is make the investment. And that’s something that I work with clients on to like some. Some businesses are very simple. Oh, I’m buying a hotel. It’s a $200,000 Hotel. Okay, buy it. That’s easy, right investments made, we’re ready to go. Some people come to me and they say, Well, I really want to start a marketing company. And I need about $30,000 to start, and I’m like, That might be true. But you also have a second layer of an immigration requirement, which is a substantial investment and $30,000, particularly if you have to go through the Embassy in London is not going to pass that test. So then the second question becomes, well, how am I going to spend $100,000 on a company that like, essentially runs out of a we work right?
Bill : buy two?
Angie : Yes, yeah, exactly. Start like 20. So that’s one of the things I work with clients on too and I always tell them do the 18 month test, sit down, write a list of everything. Everything you’re going to need for the next 18 months. And by it all now, right? Oh, I need one computer for me. And then I am going to have an assistant who doesn’t need a computer. And then in two years, I’m gonna have four employees. I’m like, great, buy four computers. Oh, you thought you were gonna buy the Dell buy the iMac Pro. Like, you know, these are the things Oh, you’re you know, you want to start a marketing campaign and it’s going to occur over the next 12 months, pay for 12 months up front, just get it down. Now, all of that stuff. two birds with one stone one you meet your investment threshold, and two, now it’s just all profit. You’ve already paid for your lease for a year, you’ve already paid for your marketing for a year, you’ve already bought all the computers like now you just sit back and make money to pay yourself back. So that would be the step for the UK or the treaty country citizen is figuring out the business, how you’re going to make that investment, making the investment and applying for the visa.
Bill : That makes sense. So you know, the I would imagine and I think you alluded to the fact that it’s sometimes people sort of go through this process or endeavor to go through this process themselves sort of self. DIY, I guess Do It Yourself process. So working with a professional such as yourself, what? What advantages are there in that process? Or maybe what hazards Have you seen happen when people try to do it? Do it themselves? That may be an easier way? Yes.
Angie : Yeah, yeah. So the two in particular, the thing that makes it great is also the thing that makes it almost impossible as an individual, which is, there are very many requirements. And there is no guideline about how to show any of those requirements. Right. So you said, oh, what’s the investment? There’s no minimum. How many employees do I need? no minimum. How do I show investments? I don’t know. How do I find the source of investment? Just show it So those are the requirements, show it, do it, you know, and I’m like, wait, what is that? So in the E2, in particular experience with filing these, is all you have. And if you’ve never filed one before, it could be very difficult. Because there are not specific ways that you prove different requirements, right. So, everybody’s case is different.
Bill : That makes
Angie : you in here will do whatever. I just I, on the other hand, I’ve been working for the last 15 years and I’ve got two duplexes that I make some money on and I sold this other business that was like three years ago. And then my mom gave me 25. I mean, like, how are you going to show all of that? What’s more, some countries have page limits. So then you got to figure out okay, what’s actually an important document and what’s not because I can’t include it all. How what I need to include in this business plan, where do I even start? Then back to soft landing, right, which is, oh, I don’t even know how to do this. I wish I had someone who could introduce me to somebody that can help me do X or Y, or Hey, I really want to find a business but I don’t even know where to start or I bought this business, but it’s losing money. Can I still apply for any to what documents ? Do I need to show that I can turn it around? Right? It’s, it’s a loser now, but I can turn it around and win. And so it’s just a wild wild world. And in fact, that is the reason that I focus so much on it because there are so many weird nuances with the E2 that you need to do it most of the time in order to understand all of the potential fact pattern, you know, missteps or weird things in different consulates do things in different ways and some email and some mail and then how do you make the appointment In just the logistics of it alone, um, some people have a very simple case, but most people don’t. And I’ll be honest, like, I still get calls to this day of people, they’re like, Well, here’s the deal. And then here’s what happened. And this other thing happened. And I’m like, ah, we’ll make it work. But I’m not exactly clear on how we’re going to do it right now, but we’re going to figure it out. So there are so many potential pitfalls, specifically with E2 because there is just very little guidance. And, and when you’re working with the Department of State, which we normally are for E2, it all comes down to who does your interview. That’s the reality. So you have to put these documents together and prove the requirements in such a way. This is what I tell all my clients. We’re going to put this application together in such a way that only a crazy person would deny it. Every once in a while you get a crazy person reviewing your documents, just so you know it happened, but we’re going to make it so quickly. Because any questions, just reduce the odds of approval. So you gotta just you need to know how to lay out that application. Show them what they need, bullet pointed out, only the exact documents they’re looking for nothing more, nothing less. It’s just a lot. I don’t even remember your question, but there was.
Bill : So yeah, well, I know you answered it perfectly in it. But I think if I were going to summarize is really your role in the process is to act as a translator. It’s sort of to take all of all of their stuff and also to objectively look at where they are, besides sort of organizing it in the application process and guiding them with the interview. It sounds like your work even potentially, in some cases starts before that in terms of guiding them or connecting them to investment possibilities that that helps. With the requirements as well,
Angie : Yeah, I mean, and I’ll give you a 30 second overview of how I work specifically because Yeah, sometimes people go, Okay, well, when I get all these documents together, I’ll call you. I’m like, No, no, no, no, because you don’t want, we don’t want to have to go back and switch a bunch of stuff that you already did. And now it’s running in this weird way. So I tell people, once you have decided on the business that you’re either going to buy or start, and you know that you have the money, you can have access to the money. That is when you call the attorney. So I look over the purchase agreement, for example, for immigration purposes, I don’t know anything about the value of the business or you know, what you’re buying or what you’re not, but making sure that some of that language that I need to see from an immigration side is there. And then every two weeks during the entire process, it takes most people three to four months to get all the documents together that we need for the E2 every two weeks throughout that process, and some people have been with me for more than a year. For sure. So we talk that whole night, they asked questions. Okay, well, we talked to this person, but they said they can only give us a receipt if it looks like this. Is that okay? Or I, you know, we tried to open the bank account, well, let me do what can I pay for my personal account in the foreign country? And like, how am I going to get all of those questions we work through together? So that’s why when we talked about that service industry thing to like, how am I going to spend all this money? We talked about that. And think through some different options, we talked about all of those things. So yeah, it’s really important to have an immigration attorney with you the whole process, then once that three to four months of document gathering is up, or however long it takes you to get the documents. Then I put all of those documents together and then submit to the consulate, then we do the interview training once we know when your interview is, so it is definitely it is not where I just put a bunch of I put a PDF in an email and send it off. It’s only oh my gosh, life would be much better. Important my ad but it is an entire process that usually lasts about six months with them with a client. That’s the average from the day they sign up till the day they get the visa. It’s about six months ish. Or long. Some, believe me, I’ve had many, many longer and I’ve had some shorter too. But um, yeah, and it is a hand holding. It’s really a white glove service, we walk you through every single step all along the way.
Bill : Very cool. So how would you suggest somebody go about selecting an attorney for to work through this process?
Angie : Yeah, I mean, for sure somebody who has experienced doing it, I think that’s kind of right off the top. But then I also say somebody that you feel really comfortable with, and I tell people that all the time for attorneys. Um, sometimes you work really well with people and they are very interested in what you’re doing and vice versa. And then sometimes, you know, you get someone you end up talking to the paralegal most of the time, they’re very confused. They don’t really know what you’re doing, you know, whatever. And sometimes it’s location, right? Like I do things all over the world. My clients are not even all over the US. They’re all over the world. And a lot of people like that very simple process. We do zoom calls, we do just do WhatsApp calls, everything goes into online files. And you know, a lot of people like that some people are really like, I’m starting a business in Houston, Texas, I need you to be in Houston, Texas, you know, but some people want that right. So great. You need to find an attorney who’s located in Houston, Texas, or what have you. Um, you know, and some people are really want a specific type of experience. You know, I need somebody who’s done service based businesses with Egypt. Fine. Yeah.You should talk to somebody who’s done a lot of service based businesses with E2’s? Those are the types of things I say to look for experiences the most because in E2 L1 as well, but he choose in particular, like experiences, the only guidance that any of us have, there, there’s nothing there. No room There’s no regulations, there’s no statutes that give you any kind of real guidance in how to do it.
Bill : So you’d say, variance, and then and then also the amount of rapport you have with the person. Yeah. Are there particular questions that, you know, you wish you were asked? But you sort of rarely are asked by, by clients, then you go, you know, because I know in our business, I get questions periodically that you know, that we love because it shows the clients really paying attention, and they’re really considered about the process. But is there a question that you wish you got more often?
Angie : That is good.
Bill : I do this for a living.
Angie : You got this interview sitting down next time you’re gonna be bawling about something.
Bill : Tell me about your mom. No kidding.
Angie : That’s a really good question. I think the clients that work well with me are maybe a little bit more prepared. Sometimes I get people who are like, Okay, great, let’s do it, but they haven’t. I know, they haven’t really thought through, like, what does that mean? So I would say the best clients are ones that have maybe done a little online research as well. So they at least have some sense of, what is this? What are the basic requirements, right? Oh, I knew I’m going to need to pick a business. I’m going to need to invest in that business. Like, just having that information is great. Um, I would say, yeah, so people maybe who have done a little, a little bit of homework on it are the best. I’m trying to think of a really good question. I can’t think of any right off the bat that are like, I wish people asked me this. Because Yeah, there’s just everybody’s so fact dependent. Right. So every case is kind of different.
Bill : Yeah, yeah, very much so. Well, this has been great. Angie is there anything else? About the visa process and particularly for entrepreneurs looking to enter the US, anything else that you would want to share that in some way might help folks coming in?
Angie : Yeah, I think that, um, you know, enthusiasm is great. As you can probably see, I have quite a bit of it. I love entrepreneurs, I love these. I love helping them get to the US. Because I also think the US is great and having super smart motivated people in the US, like, how could we go wrong? Like it’s, it’s awesome all the way around. I love it. And so having a lot of enthusiasm is going to help. You know, I think that that most people who move through with this probably own their own business or used to own their own business and I know it’s, it’s not a breeze, you’re there’s going to be you know, we got to get some documents together, then you’re going to be here running a business, right? So there’s work involved, but anybody who just has a real enthusiasm for their business And has an enthusiasm for getting the United States is going to make a great candidate. And is and so yeah, I just that i think that’s that’s something that’s gonna make people really I’m gonna they’re gonna do great. They’re gonna do great if they have enthusiasm they know their business they know what they want to do they’re sure about their decisions not they’re going to do
Bill : Perfect. Well this has been phenomenal. Thank you so much Angie for taking the information you’ve shared is really going to help a lot of entrepreneurs. So, yeah, kudos to you. Standing ovation, a round of applause, all those types of things. But thank you so much. And thank you, everybody, for tuning in. This has been a lot of fun. So they’ll talk to you soon. Bye.
Angie : Thank you.
Bill : Bye now.