Looking to connect with fellow hackers who are running their business in the U.S. on the E-2 visa.
My background: European, doing contract, freelance dev with Western European and US clients. Importantly, I've been doing that solo.
I've read all I could about the E-2 visa. I think that the bottom line is, my business would need to generate more than a "marginal" revenue, meaning I would have to generate U.S. jobs in order to maintain my E-2.
I'll eventually hire a lawyer to help me navigate the application process. What I am keen to learn now is, assuming I get the visa and can grow my business in the U.S., what would be the "minimum viable business" to have to allow me to keep my status in terms of headcount? Could I make do with contractors or do I need to have full-time staff?
I don't want to build an empire and have tons of employees. Neither do I want to launch a startup with VC money. My idea would be to have a nice "lifestyle" business built around my skills with the help of either contractors or employees, as lean as possible. At the same time I understand that the E-2 is definitely not a "freelancer visa", so I know that it needs to be more than just me.
To recap, I am not looking for legal advice here (I will pay a lawyer) but rather experience "from the trenches", so to speak.
PS I am only considering E-2 at the moment. I won't go the employment route (H1-B), don't have the cash for EB-5 or the smarts/fame for O-1 or what's it called.
[link] [comments]
source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/ng2jg4/advice_for_running_a_business_in_the_us_on_the_e2/