Philippine visa to enter due to work

[TiklingGuy 211]

I have a scenerio I want to run past anyone who could solve this equation. Say I was a real estate investor here in America and in the philippines and I owned an LLC for my real estate investment business. If I listed my wife's brother, who is from and is in the Philippines, as a part owner, could I bring him to the USA on some type of visa since he would be part owner of an American business? Or is the American dream just completely out of his reach.

[Boiler 45,501]

Sounds like an E2, bur E2 is not that easy with passive investments, from memory he would need to be a 50% investor.

[aaron2020 11,651]

I have a scenerio I want to run past anyone who could solve this equation. Say I was a real estate investor here in America and in the philippines and I owned an LLC for my real estate investment business. If I listed my wife's brother, who is from and is in the Philippines, as a part owner, could I bring him to the USA on some type of visa since he would be part owner of an American business? Or is the American dream just completely out of his reach.

If it was possible, half of the Vietnamese Americans in Little Saigon would have made their relatives partners in many of the mom and pop shops.

There are strict rules for investment visa. One will be to trace the source of funds.

If there is no business decision to add the brother as a partner (i.e., he brings nothing to the business) and it looks like it was done solely to get him a US visa, you could end up in a sticky situation where your company could be determined to be a foreign owned company.

[jan22 3,056]

He would not qualify unless he has invested enough to own a majority of the company and is entering the U.S. to control and direct the company. In your scenario, he would not be able to improve a financial investment at all (and, hence, has no investment that he has placed at risk -- also a requirement) AND if it somehow got past that, you would have to turn the company control over to him -- anything less would be visa fraud. Doubt that's what you really want to do with your business!

[TiklingGuy 211]

What he would be is the property manager. Employed by a US citizen. But his name would still be 50% owner. I do not want to do anything illegal. Just looking for a loop hole that is legal.

[Boiler 45,501]

What sort of investment would he be making to get the 50%?

[jan22 3,056]

What he would be is the property manager. Employed by a US citizen. But his name would still be 50% owner. I do not want to do anything illegal. Just looking for a loop hole that is legal.

The treaty investor visa is not a loop hole that will work -- he has to be more than an employee serving as a property manager -- he has to control and direct the entire business. Plus, as others have pointed out, he will have to document the monetary investment that he has made in the business (including the source of the funds, show how the funds are "at risk" if the business fails) and has to document that the business is more than marginal -- i.e., that his 50% "investment" will earn him more than enough to support him.

Edited June 6, 2014 by jan22

[aaron2020 11,651]

Other tax considerations.

Gift tax.

Foreign owned LLC. (Not a meaningless distinction).