Hello everybody,
After I finish my master degree in Electrical Engineering last May(2004) while I was on my OPT I started marketing cookware products of a company in Turkey. I made some sales since I started and I would like to transform this to a business form. I know that there are two possible visas for this situation: H1 and E1. (L1 is not possible because I didn't work for this company one year period in the last 3 years) However I don't know which one is better to get. Here is the hesitation:
1- H1b case: We will design electrical cookers here and they willl be manufactured in Turkey. My position will be a product design engineer so it matches my background. I have a friend who is a US citizen willing to be part of or own the whole company since we think it will make the H1b easier. He can also show the documents necessery to prove that company is able to pay my salary. Since I would like to settle down here H1B is a good option to obtain green card. However I am not sure how easy it is to get H1B since this is a startup company and I will be the only employee of the company.
2- E1 case: Since there is already some sale made and Turkey is a tready trade country E1 is possible and looks like the easier one. However since I would like to stay here and E1 does not look like it will lead to the green card, it is not giving me a lot of hope that I will be able to settle down here with E1 visa. It looks like there is no direct way to apply to green card while on E1 visa since it is not double intention visa unlike H1B.
Which one do you suggest?
Thanks,
Ali
After I finish my master degree in Electrical Engineering last May(2004) while I was on my OPT I started marketing cookware products of a company in Turkey. I made some sales since I started and I would like to transform this to a business form. I know that there are two possible visas for this situation: H1 and E1. (L1 is not possible because I didn't work for this company one year period in the last 3 years) However I don't know which one is better to get. Here is the hesitation:
1- H1b case: We will design electrical cookers here and they willl be manufactured in Turkey. My position will be a product design engineer so it matches my background. I have a friend who is a US citizen willing to be part of or own the whole company since we think it will make the H1b easier. He can also show the documents necessery to prove that company is able to pay my salary. Since I would like to settle down here H1B is a good option to obtain green card. However I am not sure how easy it is to get H1B since this is a startup company and I will be the only employee of the company.
2- E1 case: Since there is already some sale made and Turkey is a tready trade country E1 is possible and looks like the easier one. However since I would like to stay here and E1 does not look like it will lead to the green card, it is not giving me a lot of hope that I will be able to settle down here with E1 visa. It looks like there is no direct way to apply to green card while on E1 visa since it is not double intention visa unlike H1B.
Which one do you suggest?
Thanks,
Ali