E2 application processing in US

G

gregf

New Member
I am a UK citizen who has been offered a job with a British company (150 employees, 50 in US. Offices in London Amsterdam and New York).

The company has not previously applied for an E2 visa and I am told the wait for processing in the UK is 12-16 weeks. Which may be too long for my prospective employer.

Can I apply to for the company to be evaluated in the US? Will this be any quicker ?

Any help would be very very welcome.
 
Yes there is one quicker method. You could apply for your E-2 visa through USCIS via premium processing, which is usually less than 10 business days. If you are approved then you could do a change of status, assuming that you are currently in the U.S. on anything except visa waiver (90 day tourist visa). If you are not, then the only method is through the U.S. Consulate in London. My experience with them is that they are quicker than 12 weeks, but it all depends on the number of applicants they have when you submit yours. Hope that helps! (info@thevisaexpert.com)
 
Hi Greg

I note you posted your question in March so I'm not sure it is still a concern of yours or not.

However, processing times for E2 in London are now being quoted at 24 weeks. There are similar forums to this where E2 applicants are claiming processing times much longer than 24 weeks. Also, an increasing number of applications are being referred for 221g interviews, adding approx 8 weeks further delays. Unfortunately, many 221g interviews result in denial.

More cases are taking more time and resulting in more denials than ever before in London. In Brussels, ajudication takes little over a week and many other European countries are taking around 6 weeks to process. London is at the center of some controversy which sparked speculation in the UK press regarding poor handling of E2 applications and resulted in an official comment from John Caulfield, the consular general.

An increase of 200% of E2 applications since 2004, the recent security risks and a number of unscrupulous business vendors in Florida resulting in poor quality applications has done nothing to improve relations between the Embassy and British investors.

I don't know if anyone has a good E2 experience this year?

Picto
 
gregf said:
I am a UK citizen who has been offered a job with a British company (150 employees, 50 in US. Offices in London Amsterdam and New York).

The company has not previously applied for an E2 visa and I am told the wait for processing in the UK is 12-16 weeks. Which may be too long for my prospective employer.

Can I apply to for the company to be evaluated in the US? Will this be any quicker ?

Any help would be very very welcome.
Click to expand...

Hi

Sorry I am a bit confused

You say you have been given a job offer, so the company should sponser you for H1B

Or are you buying the company? if the answer is yes then E visa is correct.


Or

I think you may mean they want you to apply for a B visa

A B 1/ B 2 VISA can be for vacation or business reasons and if granted once you are in the US the company may be able to put application in to change to another non immigrant visa, like and L visa

Hope I have not confused you now !
 
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You do not have to "buy" the company in order to be eligible for the E-2 visa. As long as your company is either owned by British nationals or is a subsidiary of a British company the company can be classified as an E-2 company and in turn you will qualify as an E-2 employee.

The L-1 visa would only be applicable if you worked for the same British company in the UK for at least one year and they now want to transfer you to their U.S. location. Because of your wording that you have just been offered the job, I am assuming that this is not the case.
 
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