Tell us your story. Where you come from, what you do and how long you have been here.

Send us your story by e-mail to admin@e2reform.org We will format it to fit the site and post it for you.

There are thousands of E2 Treaty Investor Visa Holders in the USA. Together, we can have a voice.

We are Steve & Zoe and we came to Florida in September 2003 with our 2 children. We live in Lakeland now, but we originally lived in the villa we owned before we moved over here, in Davenport. We bought an established Pool Service company in Lakeland, and Richard, the original owner, stayed and worked with us for a year. This was a great help as he taught Steve everything he needed to know about the Pool Industry. We have 4 full time employees now - all from the same family actually - and have built the business up to the point where it is close to double the size it was when we purchased it. xmas-07.jpg
We applied for our first Renewal after 2 years of being here, but had lots of troubles with paperwork going back and forth to the London Embassy and consequently spent 18 months being landlocked. We visited the Embassy in March 2007, where we were given a 5 year renewal, much to our relief - not that we were really worried about our business, but you never know!!
Our children are now teenagers and will be looking at going to college in 2009 and 10. That is why we are involved in E2reform.org because of the uncertainty of their futures. They do not want to have to return to the UK as they have settled here. We also believe that they should not be forced into a career for the sake of getting a Green Card, but should be able to choose freely. After all, this is “the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free”.
With Immigration being such a Hot Topic in this Election Year, we would like to make our voice heard.

Our family, Nina, Graham, Stephanie (14) and Natalie (11) left rainy Manchester behind and started a new life in America in January 2004. We purchased a hair salon in Naples, Florida and I was the principal E2 visa holder. Hubby Graham found work as a maintenance manager having declared there was no way he was going back into sales. Stephanie settled into high school very quickly and joined the soccer team and the drama group. She soon made friends and got over the trauma of leaving everything familiar behind. Natalie took a little longer to settle, but got there eventually.
We were initially given a two-year visa which re successfully renewed for five years in 2006. Of course, even with a five year visa, we still have to leave the country every two years to renew our I-94’s.
Now that 2007 is drawing to a close, we have started to worry about what will happen when Stephanie turns twenty-one. She is at Florida Gulf Coast University in her freshman year and loving every minute. Her family is here, her life is here and her future should be here, but under E2 restrictions, she must return to the U.K. in just over 2 years.
This is why we are involved with E2reform.org. Our aim is to convince the lawmakers to seriously consider bill # H.R.2310, introduced in May this year by Congresswoman Heather Wilson. The passing of this bill into law would entitle E2 investors who satisfy certain criteria to apply for permanent residence (green card). It would give our children the opportunity to finish their education and plan for a future in America.
If you are an E2 investor, and especially if you have children, join us in our fight for justice and equality.

Julie and Terry from Orlando write,In 2002 we first started investigating ways to move to the US. Having bought two vacation homes in 1997, we visited them three times a year and never wanted to go home. Though my husband was able to take early retirement, retiring to the US was impossible as there is no retirement visa. So we opted for E2 and obtained a 5 year E2 visa to run a cleaning and property management company in Kissimmee Florida in 2003. We went through the London embassy which at the time was taking only 6 weeks processing time and was giving out 5 year visas, today it is very different. We brought with us our 17 year old son who went into high school. At the time we were told by our visa consultant that legislation had been proposed that would enable E2 children with American education to get a green card. This was the Dream Act which was never passed and even if it had have been would not have covered him.In November 2004, we decided to change status to L1 visa. The main reason for this decision was that we wanted to be on a visa which had the possibility of adjusting to permanent residence, particularly as our son was now 19 and desperately wished to stay in the US after turning 21. Apart from anything else the asthma from which he had suffered all his life had disappeared in the Florida climate. Anyway basically the company my husband used to work for in the UK was setting up a branch in America and would sponsor him as L1 manager. We successfully obtained change of status but never went back for the visa. A year later upon renewal it came out that the immigration attorney used to do the change of status had set up the company in the US in such a way that it was not affiliated to the company in the UK because the shareholdings were slightly different. It was a technicality but we were denied renewal. An appeal was put in which was again denied and took so long that we had run out of time and could no longer re-file. In December 2006 having managed to sell both home and business fortunately we left the US carrying all we owned in four suitcases.Having been out of the UK property market for nearly four years and with the pound having strengthened against the dollar, we could not return to the UK and decided to go and live in Portugal. We bought a home in Portugal and took Portuguese residencia. However we could not settle. We had a love of Florida and its way of life. By now our son had managed to get an F1 international students visa to finish the degree he had started. It was hugely expensive as he would now be paying out of state fees but we investigated the possibility of him going to UK university and starting another degree and he would have had to pay international students in the UK as if he was an American as he had been out of the country for three years. Talk about Catch 22. Anyway, we decided to apply for another E2 this time through the Portuguese embassy. Portugal does not have an E2 treaty with the US and we did not know if this was possible. However on contacting the embassy the consul said that as we were E2 treaty nationals with Portuguese residence he would exercise his consular discretion to process the application for us. I did the application myself and we successfully obtained an E2 visa, again for five years, and are now in Orlando running a window treatments business. In our mid 50s, we realise that we will not be able to keep running businesses forever and yet on E2 there is no possibility of retiring. The uncertainties of successive visa renewals weigh heavily upon you, no chance really of making any long term plans. We would love to be able to obtain permanent residence but at this time the only option is EB5 and we dont really have the funds as we are paying to put our son through a doctorate to secure his future here. If the Heather Wilson bill for E2 visa reform went through, we could see some light at the end of the tunnel and the possibility of being able to gain permanent residence at some stage in the future. Having had to leave once already, selling up everything you have worked hard for and heading off to an uncertain future, we regard the possibility of having to do the same again one day with dread.

Bob, Tricia, and Matt, Albuquerque, New Mexico , has been our home for 16 sixteen years. The E2 made it possible for us to depart the U.K. and fulfill our dream to live and work here in the land of enchantment. Our business which is an automotive transmission repair facility has gone through three “renewals”. With a dozen employees it is the largest in the Abq. market.The E2 delivers exactly what it is meant to, yet it should offer more or rather other pathways should be in place to secure a more permanent future. Congress representative Heather Wilson crafted her bill to recognize the plight of E2 holders caught up in uncertainty along with their children. Ours is so typical of so many and not just British of course, a great business, a beautiful home, already 16 years of great experiences and memories yet never the luxury to plan beyond the next renewal ,and retirement……….well that of course means having to exit the U.S.Perhaps even more burdensome is the problem that surround E2 kids like Matt our 17 year old son. His entire education has been here in New Mexico, educationally and culturally an “American” he will shortly embark on the next phase of his education at the University of New Mexico as a “Foreign student”. However, on reaching 21 years of age and at the stage of planning ahead for a career his focus will instead be more directed at what visa’s may or may not be available so as to remain in the U.S.Great to see E2reform.org up and running, positive action by positive people designed to improve the plight of E2 families of all nationalities across the entire U.S.A.

We are Edna & Bernard from Naples, Florida.
We came to Naples from Canada in 1998 after purchasing a small Window Cleaning business.
We have now been here for almost 10 years. Our business has grown 5 times it’s original size. We have 6 full time employees.
We were looking forward to expanding even further until we realized that we would never be able to retire & enjoy the Florida lifestyle in our twilight years.
Why? Because if & when we sell our business, we will have to leave the country.
Why? Because our E-2 Visa expires when we sell our business. We would have to return to Canada.
We feel we are contributing to this country in a positive way. We want to integrate & become permanent residents with a path towards citizenship. we don’t want to remain non resident aliens.
Let us share with you the life of a typical E-2 family:
Our visa is issued for five years.
Every 2 years, we have to leave the country to renew our I-94 card.The I-94 supersedes our E-2 Visa when in the United States. We have to take 2 trips, year two & year 4.At the end of the fourth year, we have to start preparing to renew our E-2.
Gathering all the information needed & preparing the application requires quite a lot of time. It is very worrisome not knowing if we forgot to include some information or if the application is going to be processed in time, or if it is going to be approved.
We send our application to the Toronto U.S. Consulate several months before our present E-2 expires.
We anxiously wait for a call from the Consulate. Our last application was 2 months late being processed & we were not able to leave the country.
Why? When we send our E-2 application, we must forward our existing E-2 Visa which is attached to our passports. If we had to leave the country for any reason, we would not be able to return. If we had a family emergency in Canada, we would not be able to go.
We fly to Toronto for our interview which lasts approximately 15 minutes. During this time, you can imagine our heart rates are elevated & we probably look very nervous. Not a good thing when you have armed security guards looking over you.
Why nervous? We are at the Immigration Officer’s mercy as to whether or not our application will be approved & our E-2 renewed.
It is very unsettling knowing that our future can be altered by the outcome of this meeting.Whatever the outcome, we have no recourse or chance of appeal if we are refused. We are given a period of time to divest ourselves of our assets in Florida & we have to leave the country.
We have to go back to where we left our other life so many years ago & try to start over.
We will be going through these emotions again in 2009. We’re beginning to worry already. We sympathise with E-2 holders whose children must leave the United States at the age of 21.
Edna and I believe the American people are the most compassionate & generous people in the world.
We have spoken to many of our customers & friends about our dilemma & they all say the same thing. They cannot believe that this situation actually exists. They believe that the law should be changed & would be happy to help in any way._______________________________________________________________________________________

This is a story from someone who has asked to remain anonymous.

We arrived in the US late 1995 on an E2
investors visa. Our initial investment of $60k enabled us to buy
outright the lease on a underperforming, run down child care center.
Both my wife and I had had experience in child welfare in the UK and we
had also developed business skills through running our own video
software company in the UK. Our initial business plan was two-fold,
short term and long term. Short term was very basic, in that we would
use our previous experience to improve the center and bring the
facility up to a level that would provide a service that would appeal
to the socio economic residents of our catchment area. It took longer
than anticipated, but eventually, mainly by word of mouth, we turned
the business round and received a five year E2 renewal after the first
two years. We were also able to privately assume the previous mortgage
on the property.

Our long term goal was to purchase a second center in year
five, a third in year nine, a fourth in year twelve and so on until we
had five centers.

In year five we purchased another center that was rundown
with undeveloped potential. The bank was prepared to lend us the full
100% of the purchase price $315k, backed by the security of the real
estate at our first center which we had purchased privately and had by
now only a very small outstanding mortgage as we had been working hard
to pay down the capital. Indeed, we paid off that first mortgage within
seven years , eight years ahead of schedule.

All was going well, and we turned around the second business ahead of schedule.

Two years after the purchase of the second center, and now
seven years into our E2, we applied for the mandatory renewal. It was
rejected. On paper, and according to the rules of the E2 the rejection
was correct in that we had over extended our borrowing by having a 100%
loan on the purchase of the second center. The situation was easily
rectified, by releasing personal capital and pumping it into the
business to make the borrowing ratios compatible to the E2 rules. We
eventually obtained another five year visa.

However, from a business point of view, the rejection had
knocked our confidence in pursuing our long term business goal. We
realized that the stipulations imposed by those who decide whether to
renew or reject our E2 renewal applications did not put us on a level
playing field with other businesses, and further investment was risky
due to the fact that the instability of the perpetual, and sometimes
erratic, process of visa renewal was a factor that had to be taken into
consideration with any business decision that had to be made.

To emphasize the discrepancy between the interpretation of
how the banks and the visa renewal officer saw our business plan,
within one year we had doubled our enrollment at the second center,
within four years we had paid off the $315k loan and had returned any
private capital investment.

In year nine, we owned outright the real estate at both
centers, were debt free and the centers were running at 85% + capacity.
We would have been on track to achieve our original long term business
plan.

The insecurity of the E2 is not conducive to long term business planning.

Furthermore, at some stage in our lives, we would wish to
retire, which of course would mean selling our businesses and
relinquishing our E2 status.

Our businesses are worth considerably more than when
purchased. The capital released upon selling would, after taxes, be
lost to the US.