:: E-2 Employee Visa
The E-2 employee visas allow the employees of Treaty Investors to live and work in the United States.

:: General Qualifications of the Employee of a Treaty Investor
To qualify for E-2 classification, the employee of a treaty investor must:
1) Be the same nationality of the principal alien employer (who must have the nationality of the treaty country)
2) Meet the definition of employee under relevant law
3) Either be engaging in duties of an executive or supervisory character, or if employed in a lesser capacity, have special qualifications.

If the principal alien employer is not an individual, it must be an enterprise or organization at least 50% owned by persons in the United States who have the nationality of the treaty country. These owners must be maintaining nonimmigrant treaty investor status. If the owners are not in the United States, they must be, if they were to seek admission to this country, classifiable as nonimmigrant treaty investors.

Duties which are of an executive or supervisory character are those which primarily provide the employee ultimate control and responsibility for the organization’s overall operation, or a major component of it.

Special qualifications are skills which make the employee’s services essential to the efficient operation of the business. There are several qualities or circumstances which could, depending on the facts, meet this requirement. These include, but are not limited to:
1) The degree of proven expertise in the employee’s area of operations
2) Whether others possess the employee’s specific skills
3) The salary that the special qualifications can command
4) Whether the skills and qualifications are readily available in the United States.
Knowledge of a foreign language and culture does not, by itself, meet this requirement. Note that in some cases a skill that is essential at one point in time may become commonplace, and therefore no longer qualifying, at a later date.

:: Period of Stay
Qualified E-2 employees may receive either five or two year visas from consulate offices abroad but will be allowed a maximum stay of two years upon admission. An E-2 employee who travels abroad may generally be granted an automatic two-year period of readmission when returning to the United States. For a change of status in the U.S., E-2 employees are are allowed a maximum initial stay of two years. Requests for extension of stay may be granted in increments of up to two years each. There is no maximum limit to the number of extensions an E-2 employee status may be granted. All E-2 nonimmigrants, however, must maintain an intention to depart the United States when their status expires or is terminated.

:: Family of E-2 Employees
E-2 employees may be accompanied or followed by spouses and unmarried children who are under 21 years of age. Their nationalities need not be the same as the E-2 employee. These family members may seek E-2 nonimmigrant classification as dependents and, if approved, generally will be granted the same period of stay as the employee. If the family members are already in the United States and are seeking change of status to or extension of stay in an E-2 dependent classification, they may apply by filing a single Form I-539 with fee. Spouses of E-2 employees may apply for work authorization by filing Form I-765 with fee. If approved, there is no specific restriction as to where the E-2 spouse may work.