Already own a business in the US, which VISA?

[colorcon 0]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. I am struggling for a while already to find the right answers to my situation. Let me give you an overview of my situation and what I would like to accomplish:

I am married, with 2 kids.

I own a holding company that owns 3 business in the Netherlands and 1 in the United States.

I need to travel to the US based office once a month (approx.)

I am already getting more difficult questions at immigration, since I am travelling to the US frequently.

Since I am the owner of the holding company I am not an employee of the US company. I will not get a salary from the company directly. If things continue to grow like they do now, I might charge a management fee from the holding company to the US subsidiary.

The question now is:

Is an E1/E2 visa the best choice for this situation. Those forms are asking for an income in the US and from what I understood it is for people that need to live in the US for their job. I am not planning to live in the United States, just visiting but working at my own office.

I would appreciate your opinion (and experience, hopefully) on this matter!

Kind regards,

Marco

[jaycali 415]

If you travel once a month for short business trips the only suitable "visa" is the VWP, which you seem to already be traveling on.

When you enter immigration, do you ever bring any documentation with you or anything? They should be fairly used to VWP business travelers coming quite frequently..

The EB2 visa is if you're investing money, and plan to live there for a while.

Edited June 15, 2012 by jaejayC

[Teddy B 17,252]

Edited June 15, 2012 by Teddy B

[Boiler 45,794]

VWP or B1.

Perhaps teleconference more of you meetings?

Saves a lot of money on travel as well.

[colorcon 0]

VWP or B1.

Perhaps teleconference more of you meetings?

Saves a lot of money on travel as well.

That's absolutely true, but being there, managing the team and having real life meetings with customers (all over the US) helps to build a stronger presence. It will become less after a while.

In the meantime I have been in touch with the US Embassy, through some backdoors and they advised an E visa. I have an appointment tomorrow and will see what they advice.

Thanks all for the kind responses!

Marco

[Boiler 45,794]

The Consulate issue visa's.

And they certainly do not give advice, you need a Lawyer.

Managing the team sounds iffy on a B.