What are the advantages of the E-1 enterprise registration?

Unlike other work visas, the E-1 visa is not only a work permit for the applicant (employee and/or business owner) – the entire US company will be “registered” with the US authorities, usually for a period of five years.

What advantages does enterprise registration offer?

For a period of five years, a simplified process is available for obtaining E-1 visas for the company’s employees.

No petition will have to be submitted to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, for as long as the registration is valid. Employees just have to schedule an interview appointment with their local US consulate and present their application documents. The simplified process is much less expensive and time-consuming. Especially in comparison to the complicated L-visa application process, the E-category should always be considered first.

The only drawback of E-1 enterprise registration: The employees to be sent to the US must be nationals of the same country as their company. So German companies, for example, can only obtain E-1 visas for German citizens.

At the end of the registration period, an extension can be applied for at the US consulate. If the company, at that time, already has more than 25 American employees, the registration can be extended for five more years. All employee visas may also be extended.

If the company, however, has less than 25 American employees, a new registration application has to be submitted to the appropriate US consulate.

So, as long as the US company exists and all the requirement for the E-1 Treaty Trader status are met, the registration can be extended for a virtually unlimited number of times.