Immigrant Visas for Startups

Immigrant visas for startups make it possible for a foreigner to immigrate to the US to work for your startup. People with these immigrant visas would be given a permanent resident status. This is a status that never expires, and after holding it for five years, they can apply for US citizenship.

For immigrant visas requiring a job offer, you have to demonstrate that you made bona fide attempts to hire a US worker. This means that you wanted to give the job offer to qualified US citizens, but none of them met your requirements.

For startups where the founders and employees own equity in the company, having substantial equity would make it harder to establish bona fide attempts to find a US worker. If your company wants to sponsor the founder or an employee, you should discuss your compensation system with an immigration attorney.

EB1 Priority Workers Immigrant Visas for Startups

Priority workers in this category refer to people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors, and researchers, transferring managers and executives. The category of people with extraordinary ability can sponsor themselves. For people who are outstanding professors and company executives, they need to be sponsored by an employer offering them a permanent job.

EB2 Immigrant Visas for Startups

This category of immigrant visa is available for professionals with advanced degrees. It is also available for people with exceptional ability in the sciences, business, or art. There is usually the need for a job offer to be qualified for this category. However, in some situations, the requirement for an existing job offer can be waived if it is in the national best interest.

EB3 Immigrant Visas for Startups

This category is regarded as the third preference category and it includes professionals who have a bachelor’s degree, skilled workers with jobs that require at least two years of training, and unskilled workers where the labor is not seasonal or temporary. If you are considering workers from this category, then you need to have an existing permanent position for them in your startup.

EB5 Investor Immigrant Visas for Startups

This category is for individuals willing to invest $500,000 in a job-creating business within a “targeted employment area”. The targeted employment area is a term that covers a wide variety of places including cities.

If you are in this category, you need to first apply for a temporary green card that is valid for two years. After two years, you need to apply for a permanent green card. For you to be granted a permanent green card, you need to demonstrate that you have maintained the business and created jobs in the process.

If you are a founder interested in investing in your company over a period, you can still apply for this category. You do not need to invest all the funds at once. If all the sums you have invested over the years equal the threshold for an EB5 visa, you can apply for an EB5 green card based on your past investment.