How to start a business in America and apply for a green card during OPT?

Lawyer Du of Zhenshun went to America to answer.

L- 1 visa is one of the entry permits for foreign businessmen and foreign experts to work in the United States for a long time. Mainly to encourage foreign enterprises to do business and invest in the United States. As the largest economic power in the world, the United States attracts a large number of immigrants and tourists every year. L- 1 Visa is applicable to all kinds of enterprises (multinational companies) in China doing business in the United States, and employees with enterprise experience or special skills need to be dispatched or mobilized to work in the United States.

L- 1A visa was a non-immigrant visa at the time of application. However, according to the relevant regulations issued by American immigrants, holders of L- 1A visas and their families can change their immigration status within a certain period of time and directly obtain permanent residency in the United States. In the process of applying for a visa at the consulate, the visa officer shall not refuse the visa because the L- 1 visa gives the applicant the freedom to immigrate or not in the immigration law.

The following is a brief process of application for your reference.

After foreigners enter the United States with non-immigrant visas, the most common way for most people is to apply for permanent residence through professional immigrants, except for family reunion and investment immigration EB5. From a macro point of view, the professional immigration policy of the United States aims to absorb outstanding talents from various countries and protect the domestic labor market. There are only a few people in the first priority category, and applying for a green card does not require the approval of the Ministry of Labor, while most people can only enter the third priority category. The number of places in the first priority category is generally inexhaustible, and the number of places in the third priority category is not enough all the year round.

L 1 managers of multinational companies with visa status are regarded as the first priority group. It can be seen that the immigration policy of the United States places the promotion of the internationalization of American business activities on the same important position as attracting foreign talents. It can be said that among all non-immigrant visas, the L 1 visa is the only one that receives special treatment. Non-immigrant visa is essentially a temporary visa for temporary activities in the United States, not an immigrant visa for permanent residence in the United States. Therefore, one of the prerequisites for applying for a non-immigrant visa is that the applicant must have no intention of permanent residence in the United States at the time of application, which is commonly called "immigration tendency". Among all non-immigrant visas, only L 1 and H 1B do not use "immigration tendency" as a review condition. That is to say, when L 1 visa applicants apply for a visa abroad or change their status at home, they can legally have dual intentions, that is, to obtain temporary residence for a limited period of time first, and then obtain permanent residence indefinitely according to the situation and needs. Judging from the application practice, almost no L 1 application was rejected because of "immigration tendency".

Compared with other visas, it is simpler to apply for permanent residence as L 1, and there is no need to provide all kinds of complicated materials. That is to say, as long as the L 1 identity holder works for the company in the United States, the company he works for can apply for permanent residence after one year as long as the affiliation with the overseas parent company remains unchanged and it remains in operation. When applying, you don't have to go through the complicated procedures of applying for a permanent work permit, and you don't need to submit additional personal materials. According to this procedure, it can be said that it is a natural process to apply for a green card as L 1.

Finally, the short waiting time for getting a green card is also a big advantage of L 1 identity. In the United States, except for spouses of American citizens and their unmarried children under 265,438+0 and parents of American citizens over 265,438+0, all immigration applications, from family reunion to refugees, are subject to quota restrictions. This quota ranges from one thousand to tens of thousands. After the application is approved, according to different categories, the waiting period for the applicant to get the green card can be from never waiting to waiting for more than ten years. The waiting period depends on the number of quotas obtained in this category and the number of applicants. According to the immigration law 1990, the number of spouses and unmarried children of green card holders is the largest, with an annual quota of 1 14200. The immigration reform law of 1996 stipulates that the number of asylum seekers who resist the forced population policy is the least, with 1 000 per year. Although the number of family immigrants is the largest, the longest waiting period in Asia can exceed ten years, because there are many qualified people and there are restrictions from countries and regions. Although the number of first priority professional immigrants is not the largest, there are very few qualified people, so the quota has been used up for several years. L 1 EB- 1C, as one of the first priority professional immigrants of multinational enterprises, can generally get a green card without waiting if permanent residence is approved. Compared with the immigration category that needs to wait for several years or even ten years, the L 1 category shows great advantages.

It can be seen that the L 1 visa category in the United States can be said to be the only visa that integrates all non-immigrant visas, from application to visa, from visa to permanent residence to green card. It is precisely because of these advantages that the L 1 visa has become the first choice for businessmen from all countries to stay in the United States.