Immigration to which state?

[Steven]

Florida is the most Canadian friendly State, imo. Under Florida State law any Canadian citizen can get a one-year DL simply with proof of Canadian citizenship which is much more friendly than any other State I can think of. Plus there are probably hundreds if not thousands of people from Ontario and Québec in Florida on E visas who have done pretty much what you are thinking of or close to it.

[bcwoman]

@ Steven

Do you, personally, know any of the hundreds or thousands of these Canadians with an E-visa in Florida?

[Steven]

No, but there have been a couple on here in the past and I did meet that British couple awhile back.

[bcwoman]

No, but there have been a couple on here in the past and I did meet that British couple awhile back.

I assume it's the couple with the B&B. We were thinking of buying a B&B too, but my husband thinks, that we could earn enough money with a B&B, if you know,what I mean.

-- Thu May 21, 2009 10:25 am --

sorry: that we could NOT earn enough money with the B&B.

[Steven]

Actually thinking about it, one of my relatives has friends who live(d) in Florida who run (or ran) an interior design business on an E-2 visa, I think they jacked it in though. The reason being that their son had no status when he grew up and they didn't like having to live so far away from him. One of my friends is friends with an Australian who had a travel agency business in Florida as well on E-2, but last I heard the business failed when the depression hit because I heard he was moving back to Australia.

This is the real problem with an E visa - it's a non-immigrant visa, so it's only valid while the business is in operation, if the business fails or you retire, your status is invalid.

The real solution is EB-5, immigrant investor, but that requires a whopping investment (at least $500,000) and you must employ (directly or indirectly) at least 10 US citizens or LPRs. This is how some rock stars and the seriously wealthy immigrate into the US, because USCIS consider they're probably indirectly employing ten people at the bank to count their money.

There's another category called "immigrant investor center", which basically means you give $500,000 to an "investor center" for six years and you get LPR status, they give it back to you after six years with minimal interest. However there is risk involved in that one as the centres are usually local government entities and given the economy I wouldn't trust them for six years with $500,000 (and who can live without that much money for six years - not many people).

You can make money with a B&B in Orlando. Not much money I guess but Florida is a pretty cheap place to live. The thing to do is to have a "boutique" hotel or something. The couple I met seemed to be doing okay but that was back around 1998 as I recall.

[bcwoman]

I really don't know how to thank you for your advices and help. To know, what is possible and how to immigrate can one save a big dissapointment.

-- Fri May 22, 2009 2:11 pm --

Ok, the E2-visa is a non-immigrant visa, but if we get it and operate successful our business, let's say for about 5to 7 years, isn't it possible then to get the Green Card after a certain period?

[Steven]

Not from E-2. It can be renewed indefinitely provided the business is still in operation but it doesn't lead to LPR status unless you get it some other way, e.g. you use family-based immigration and a close relative who is a US citizen sponsors you or something like that, when the visa number comes up you can then apply for AOS.

The usual advice is to go in on E-2 and grow the business until you qualify for EB-5, in reality though it's pretty hard to pull that off (because the money has to be a seperate investment). EB-5 is only $500,000 in an "economically deprived area", which Orlando isn't (I think, check with USCIS, there may be parts that are), outside one of those areas it's a minimum $1 million investment.

The areas defined as "economically deprived" may grow during this depression, however that only helps you if you invested the $500,000 now and hired ten people in the relatively near future (they do give you time to do this, it doesn't have to be immediately).