this is the third and final portion of our discussion on investor visas for the usa. the “l” series of visas are great tools for existing foreign corporations that wish to establish a foothold in the us market. the us tends to make it relatively easy for foreign investors to gain visas, as investment inflows directly lead to new us jobs. real estate, whether it be leased or purchased, is always a significant portion of this equation. (1st interview – the eb5 & e2) (second interview – foreign restaurant operators in the usa)
eric: hello and welcome to the market minute, my name eric odum, i’m the principal real estate broker for florida roi commercial property brokerage in tampa, florida. today, we have with us fernando perez. fernando has been a regular on our video blogs over the years. in fact, he has the most popular video blog that we’ve ever done in terms of hits.
fernando is a florida super lawyer, has appeared on fox news, and univision to discuss matters of immigration. he was also named one of the top international real estate attorneys by tampa bay magazine. so, thank you again, fernando, for joining us and we appreciate you coming.
fernando: always my pleasure
eric: so, we’ve talked already and had a couple different of chances to discuss the e2 and eb5. you had mentioned the l series. let’s talk a little bit about the l1a series and what that means from a thirty thousand foot level. what exactly is a l1a visa?
fernando: briefly, it’s a category of visa that was created so that foreign companies could establish a subsidiary or affiliate in the united states and transfer executive or managerial personnel to the us entity to further their interest in the united states. that’s basically what it comes from.
eric: so, it’s for corporations that are established in their home country and they are wanting to establish something in the us. are there country restrictions?
fernando: no
eric: from libya?
fernando: anywhere
eric: from pakistan?
fernando: anywhere
eric: so let’s talk about some of the requirements that you need to be able to get this visa.
fernando: it’s pretty straight forward. the first requirement is that there has to be an actively operating business in a foreign county. what i mean by “actively operating”… it has to be more than simply a registered company. the company has to be actively engaged in doing some business or delivery services, manufacturing goods for profit. that foreign company would have to be in existence for at least one year. that’s your first component.
second component is they have to establish a company in the united states and the company in the united states can be a parent, an affiliate, a subsidiary or a branch of the foreign company. the person that they’re seeking to bring over has to have been employed by the foreign company for at least one year in a managerial or executive capacity and they have to be coming to the united states also to function for the foreign company in the united states in an executive or managerial capacity.
eric: in the same industry?
fernando: it could be completely different. that’s one of the great things about this. you can have a manufacturing facility in germany, but yet, that same company can set up a subsidiary affiliate in the united states run a restaurant. it could be anything.
eric: interesting. but probably more likely is we would see a manufacturing company in germany, for example, and they are wanting to control their distribution here in the united states…. is probably a little bit more common.
fernando: what you typically see with the larger companies is that they’re coming here as they want to facilitate distribution here in the united states, manage sales…. its a little more hands on. maybe it’s a product that requires training for the sales force, so they want to have people here that are able to train the sellers of the product. then you have foreign companies that simply want to set up a us….like the auto industry….want to set up a manufacturing facility in the us and make cars there.
eric: last time i was in london i was speaking with a local restaurateur that had a number of indian restaurants in london, happens to vacation here and asked about opening up a restaurant in the us. would that qualify?
fernando: sure, absolutely.
eric: he could send his son or cousin over as long as he’s working at the restaurant in an executive capacity and could open his restaurant here and receive the visa?
fernando: correct
eric: terrific. let’s talk about types of industries you’ve seen do this with using the l1a visa. i think you mentioned a marble company.
fernando: in thirty years we’ve seen a lot. the marble company is a good example because with the marble company they were from a country….the marble that they were selling and installing in the united states, quarried from that country, was more brittle than the typical marble we might see from italy.
in that particular situation, that company set up a us subsidiary and what we did is brought over one person as an executive to basically manage the us operations and then brought over 15 marble installers which are basically unskilled labor. they don’t have college degrees but they do have specialized knowledge.
that’s another criterion of the l; you can bring people here because they are going to function as a manger or executive. but you can also bring people over here because they have knowledge that is unique to your particular product or service, so you can bring them over to do that and that’s what we did to these marble layers.
eric: got ya. the visa is a little different from the e2 and eb5 because there’s no profit requirement or investment requirement like there are with those two visas correct?
fernando: correct. e2 you have to make an investment in the united states. you have to demonstrate that you’ve got money out of pocket even though there’s no minimum but you have to show you’ve invested something. you also have to show that within 5 years your us investment is going to generate more than a minimal living income for the investor. that’s the focus of the e2
here the focus is the person coming over is going to function in an executive or managerial capacity. so they don’t really care how much you spend to set up the us operation. they really don’t care how profitable the us operation is.
we’ve had situations, as we mentioned before, where the us operation is being created merely to facilitate the function of the foreign company and all they’re doing is sending enough money over here or it’s generating enough money over here just to cover expenses because all the sales are still being handled overseas. so there’s no requirement under the l that you post a certain profit in the united states.
eric: so is there anything else about the l that you would like to point out that we haven’t discussed already?
fernando: one of the interesting features about the l is only for manager executives not for people with specialized knowledge. but if you’re here as a manger executive after the us operation has been in existence for over a year it then becomes possible for that manger or executive, if the company wants to convert that l to green card.
that’s a nice plus, if you’re a foreign company and you bring a key person over here and this person is really doing a great job for you….you don’t want to be extending their l every couple of years if you’re going to leave them here permanently. so, at that point you have the option because there is a seven year cap on the use of an l by a manager or executive.
if you are running out at that seven years or if you know after a couple of years that this person is really a good fit for your us operation then you can go through the process of getting them a green card, which is called the multi-national executive category. the criterion for the multi-national executive category is exactly the same as the criteria for the l.
eric: let’s summarize the l1. this is really for companies established overseas wanting to establish some sort of business here in the united states.
fernando: no, let’s clarify the word established, because i don’t want people to think this is only available to companies that have been around for a while. the company overseas only has to been in existence for a year. you don’t need a company that’s been around for 5, 10 or 15 years, you could have started this company a year ago.
now, if you’re in a position right now to set up that us affiliate, you’re good to go.
eric: got ya. so one year…. the person that’s getting the visa in an executive capacity, has to been employed for at least a year and then you need to establish the organization in the united states. so, that’s the primary criteria and unlike the e2 and eb5…. there is no investment criterion and there’s no criteria that’s going to be profitable to allow that visa to remain intact.
fernando: exactly, another interesting thing about this is in terms of the foreign employee over here with the l working in a manger or executive capacity. the law basically gives you a year to make that happen. so when you first set up your us operation and you first apply for the l you don’t really have to have too much going on in the united states.
all you need in the united states is to form a us corporation, established an ownership relationship between the two corporations, secured a some type of business premises in the united states and have a business plan that demonstrates that within one year your us operation is going to be substantial enough to where your l1 employee is going to be working in a managerial or executive capacity. that’s all you need. so the person comes over here they have a year to get the operation going.
eric: and your practice would assist them from beginning to end. establish the company, apply for the l1, see them through the l1 process, they’re coming to you for a turnkey solution.
fernando: we do that and we also like to get an idea for what their long term goals are. do you think you may want to get a green card for this employee a year or two down the road? do you think you may want to bring over more executive level personnel or personnel with specialized knowledge? we can get a game plan set up for them.
eric: again, we appreciate you having us today, hosting us. it’s always a pleasure to talk to you about immigration matters and today with the l1.
fernando: always a pleasure taking with you eric.
eric: i’m eric odum, principal real estate broker for florida roi commercial property brokerage look forward to speaking with you again soon.
i’m going to include a link to our web page which is www.roireal.estate.
join us next time for the market minute.
roi commercial property, inc. is a licensed florida real estate corporation. while roi endeavor to ensure that its content is accurate and correct, it makes no express or implied warranty, representation or understanding to its accuracy, reliability or completeness. this interview has been produced by roi and is intended for informational purposed only. the opinions expressed by guest are the opinions of the guest and may not reflect the opinions of roi or roi employees or staff.
