Steven Riznyk, head lawyer at My Immigration Attorney, gives a talk about investor visas and how you can use them to immigrate to the USA.

1. Immigrant INVESTOR
OPPORTUNITIES in real estate
HOW TO INVEST IN THE US AND
OBTAIN A VISA OR GREEN CARD
#SDARexpo

2. Presented by Steven Riznyk
of SanDiegoBizLaw
“The CEO’s First Call”
(619) 677-5727
sr@SanDiegoBizLaw.com
Steven Riznyk has been involved in immigration law for the last 25
years, and leads a very unique firm. SanDiegoBizLaw is the first in
the country to combine business law and management consulting,
allowing a broad spectrum to be drawn from when creating cases.
Immigration is considered a division of business law, and the
immigrant investors very much enjoy the fact that
Mr Riznyk studied Strategic Management at Harvard and was a
consultant in Business Process Re-engineering.
As Mr Riznyk discovered when he moved to Italy for a year three
years ago, being in a foreign country provides endless challenges
with tasks we take for granted back home. As a result, when he
acts as a business consultant to his foreign investors, the E2 visa
holders can save months, if not years in building a successful
entity. With over 2,000 contacts he developed in the past two
years, Mr Riznyk has all the tools a foreign national needs to
succeed in the United States. He can be reached at (619) 793-
4827 or www.SanDiegoBizLaw.com.
#SDARexpo

3. INVESTORS- An Introduction
• This area of the law offers many
opportunities when other • Persons who lose their jobs can use this
options are closed. For example, visa as a lifesaver. For example, if someone
persons in the LGBT community cannot get an H1b visa because the quota
as well as retirees. Often, they is full (ie 2014 fiscal year) or if they cannot
have no other options, and locate an employer who will ‘sponsor’
investing is a perfect them, then they can create a company and
opportunity; consider advertising the employer can be their client.
to these potentials.
• There is plenty of room for creativity with
the investment visas.
• There are 3 major investment vehicles: E,
L, and EB5. My favorite is the L because it
can lead to a rapid Green Card (1 year
versus 6-8…details to follow).
#SDARexpo

4. INVESTORS-Overview
The three ways to accomplish this are:
•1.The L-1 visa (very hard to achieve). The
person must own a company in ‘any’ other
country. For SDAR purposes, they should be
an executive or manager.
•2. The E-2 visa, a wonderful visa, but you
must be from a treaty country or Australia. It
never leads to a Green Card (ie permanent
residency). There is a creative option our firm
calls the reverse L-1 to achieve a Green Card,
but it is laborious.
•3. The Eb-5 for persons who invest $500,000
to $1 million in a company and employ 10
persons for 2 years. This leads directly to a
Green Card but to me, it is a worst-case
scenario option.
#SDARexpo

5. INVESTORS-L1 Visa
• Client had to work as a manager
or executive OR a person with
Specialized Knowledge.
(Specialized Knowledge won’t
apply for SDAR purposes)
• The L-1 • As with all visas, intent must be
• For Intracompany Transferees. temporary.
Your client must have worked 1 • Despite sentence above, allows
of the past 3 years abroad for them to apply for Green Card
parent, branch, subsidiary or after 1 year in highest category,
affiliate. (6 months if blanket called EB1 or Employment-
filed). Based one.
• Didn’t have to work in full-time • Dual Intent applies.
but most of the time on a
regular & systematic basis.
• Affiliate relationship is very
common - - majority of stock or
ownership of both companies.
#SDARexpo

6. INVESTORS-L1
• Manager or Exec can • Exec: directs the
remain up to 7 years management of a
• A person with company or a major
Specialized Knowledge component or
can remain 5 years
function of it.
• Should have a lot of
discretion.
• Client is the brains,
the direction of the
firm and make
important decisions.
#SDARexpo

7. INVESTORS-L1
MANAGER • SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE
• Manages the entire firm, • There are 2 types of
dept. or higher Specialized Knowledge.
organizational level, a • You can have SK of the the
function, or component. way the company operates
• Supervise and controls other (intrinsic) or
supervisors, professionals, • You can have SK of the
managers, or manages and product/service,
essential function within a management,
department or subdivision. research/equipment, and/or
• Can hire, fire and/or methodologies of the
recommend personnel company and the application
directives. of that information in
• Can exercise discretion over international markets (i.e.
daily ops of an activity or the U.S. market the company
function. is expanding to).
#SDARexpo

8. INVESTORS-L1
• BLANKET procedure is very • Company has an office in the
handy U.S. & has conducted biz for
• Person (=beneficiary) only one year
need work for foreign • Fo2- profit companies only
company 6 months • Company has minimum of 3
• Downside is EP or EB-1 domestic & foreign
Green Card is precluded if 12 branches/subsidiaries/
months working aboard did affiliates
not happen • U.S. sales of $25 m, 1,000
• Initial approval is 3 years employees or 10 L petitions
approved in the last year
(=12 mo period)
#SDARexpo

9. INVESTORS-E Visa
• Great visa b/c of flexibility of use
• Must be from a Treaty Country
• Cannot obtain Green Card w/o Reverse L1.
• Indefinite renewals
• Great for your clients (ie in Canada or Mexico who seek to retire in the
United States)…contact people you know in Toronto, Vancouver,
Edmonton, and Calgary and be the expert in this field!
#SDARexpo

10. E visa Treaty Countries
• ARGENTINA, ARMENIA (E2 only), AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BANGLADESH (E2 only),
BELGIUM, BOLIVIA (E1 only), BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, BRUNEI (E1 only),
BULGARIA (E2 only), CAMEROON (E2 only), CANADA, CHINA (Taiwan),
COLOMBIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (formerly Zaire) (E2 only),
REPUBLIC OF CONGO (E2 only), COSTA RICA, CZECH REPUBLIC (E2 only),
DENMARK (E1 only), ECUADOR (E2 only), EGYPT (E2 only), ESTONIA, ETHIOPIA,
FINLAND, FRANCE [includes FRENCH GUIANA, GUADELOUPE, MARTINIQUE, and
REUNION], GEORGIA, GERMANY, GREECE (E1 only), GRENADA (E2 only),
HONDURAS, IRAN, IRELAND, ISREAL (E1 ONLY), ITALY, JAMAICA, JAPAN,
KAZAKHSTAN (E2 only), KOREA, KYRGYZSTAN (E2 only), LATVIA (E1 only),
LIBERIA, LUXEMBOURG, MEXICO, MOLDOVA (E2 only), MONGOLIA (E2 only),
MOROCCO (E2 only), NETHERLANDS [including ARUBA AND NETHERLANDS
ANTILLES], NORWAY [excludes SVALBARD], OMAN, PAKISTAN, PANAMA (E2
only), PARAGUAY, PHILIPPINES, POLAND (E2 only), ROMANIA (E2 only),
SENEGAL (E2 only), SLOVAK REPUBLIC (E2 only), SPAIN, SRI LANKA, SURINAME,
SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, THAILAND, TOGO, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (E2 only),
TUNISIA (E2 only), TURKEY, UKRAINE (E2 only), UNITED KINGDOM (applies to
the British Isles, not the Republic of Ireland, yes to CHANNEL ISLANDS AND
GIBRALTAR, and YUGOSLAVIA.
#SDARexpo

11. INVESTORS-E
• E-1 is for import/export
• E-2 is for other business
investments • Don’t need to define the time
• Passive investments don’t you want to remain in the U.S.
count (=stock market, a single but at some time in future
house) intend to leave (strange).
• • No proof of foreign residence
Also allows for “Essential required.
Employee”.
• Best to get Green Card via
spouse if client decides to live
in US. (ie PERM)
• Dual Intent applies
• Some countries OK for E-1,
some for E-2, and some for
both.
• If you client an employer, the
company must be owned 50%
or more by treaty nationals
• UK only has special rule re
being domiciled there.
#SDARexpo

12. INVESTORS-E
E-1 E-2
• Only international trade counts. • Money must be at risk (invest
• Can also trade services, banking, then apply).
accounting, technology and • Future plans & business plans
many other non-standard items. not enough.
• 50% + of total trade must be • Condition precedent OK with
b/w the treaty country and U.S. funds held in escrow with
• Requires a volume of trade. One irrevocable commitment.
big customer is not sufficient. • Client can bring in equipment
and inventory.
• Investment must be substantial
(relative to the type of
business).
• No marginal investments
allowed.
• Greed is required (family rule).
#SDARexpo

13. INVESTORS-E
EMPLOYEES
• They must have client’s
• Client must Develop and Direct. nationality.
• Client not meant to compete in • Must be supervisor or executive
the skilled or unskilled markets. OR
• Negative control is control but non-supervisor but Essential
client must have controlling Employee [indispensable to the
interest. success of the enterprise].
#SDARexpo

14. INVESTORS-EB5
• Invest $1,000,000 or, if in an area of high unemployment, $500,000
• Good if you client not from a treaty country and does not qualify
for an L-1
• Hire 10 U.S. workers for 2 years on a full-time basis (30 hrs/wk not
40)
• Investment can be inventory, debt (not backed by the company),
other assets.
#SDARexpo

15. Investors-EB5
• The EB5 as a real-estate investment is a great alternative to Regional
Centers. However, more work is required by the investor. If you examine
Canada, for example, many people are fans of real estate.
• Canadian clients I have dealt with seem to be cash-rich and these are
persons who would purchase motels, hotels, warehouses, strip malls, and
other such entities…a great source of business.
• Thank you all and all of us at SanDiegoBizLaw wish you the most successful
year you have ever had. Here is an inspirational quote for you:
• "A day dawns, quite like other days; in it, a single hour comes, quite like
other hours; but in that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces
us."
• Maltbie Babcock