Immigration to which state?

We are a couple and currently own a motel in BC. We would like to move to Florida, Arizona or California and run a small motel there as well, but sell our motel here in BC.
Does anybody know, where we could find the best conditions to start a business again (real estate prices, experiences with public authorities, lawyers etc.)?
Also, we are interested, if anybody knows good and reliable lawyers, helping us with the immigration process.

Unless you are dual citizens, you're going to need some sort of visa to allow you to stay in the US. If you're planning to open your own business, I'm guessing an E visa of some sort, which requires you to show a lot of money up front.

Yes, we plan to go on an E-Visa and to run a small motel somewhere. The main question for us is: where? We definitly want to move to the South. We know California and Arizona very well and plan a trip to Florida now. Does anybody know good places to run such a business and may be good immigration lawyers?

All three of those states are among the most hard hit by the current recession. I don't know much about the motel industry, but it doesn't seem to be a good time to be opening that kind of business in the US now given the state of the economy.

But to BUY a hotel/motel should be a good time and in which economic area is it currently easy?
We definitely want to move to the South sooner or later and we want to check now what would be the best options for us.

Sure, there's probably hundreds of them going out of business these days. I think what ax is saying is that considering the economy and no body is actually travelling and staying in hotels or motels right now, even if you can buy one up for cheap, you're not likely to have much business in it. And may just end up losing your shirt.

It's really not a pretty sight down here in the land of milk n honey. It's not in the news as much anymore because it is no longer news. Same as the H1N1 flu. No longer news, but it's still killing people.

Check AILA for an immigration lawyer. But be careful, I haven't heard very many good stories about any of them.

But to BUY a hotel/motel should be a good time and in which economic area is it currently easy?
We definitely want to move to the South sooner or later and we want to check now what would be the best options for us.

Orlando. Once when I stayed there I met a British couple who had done exactly that, gotten an E-2 and bought a B&B there. It's the sort of place where everyone is looking for somewhere inexpensive to stay.

E-2 allows the spouse to get work authorization, although E requires the person who does the investing to be in control of the investment but not technically self-employed, but if you're married that's easy to deal with because you both are involved in the same business, it's impossible to know where the employee/employer relationship ends and the marriage begins!

Failing that I would say Las Vegas.

Check AILA for an immigration lawyer. But be careful, I haven't heard very many good stories about any of them.

But why then check the AILA when this an unreliable story? That's why I was asking for somebody who has made GOOD experiences with immigration laywers. Particularly, I'm interested in lawyers, serving these 3 states (Arizona, Florida, California).

Because we own and operate a motel now, we know about the hard times in the hospitality industry. We would buy an existing motel, so they should have some returning customers, like we have that too. One can go in contract with tour operators as well and that brings tourists to the area.
So, we are not so much worried that we fail, but there a lot of other things w're thinking about.

And please,...not Las Vegas!

Orlando. Once when I stayed there I met a British couple who had done exactly that, gotten an E-2 and bought a B&B there. It's the sort of place where everyone is looking for somewhere inexpensive to stay.

Also, Florida has a relatively favorable tax climate for businesses. For example, there is no personal income tax in FL. Thus, if you operate your business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or an S corporation, your business profits will not be taxed by the state. Florida law also exempts business inventories from personal property taxes.

I would agree on the Orlando point though. Given the cluster of tourist attractions there it would make sense that people would need affordable accommodations, although I don't think it's particularly expensive to stay there as is. Miami is pretty expensive to stay in comparatively, so there is a market for cheaper accommodations but it would probably cost more to start a motel there than in other cities.

Don't know anything about Nevada.

California is probably one of the least favorable places to start a business tax-wise. I guess this makes sense given the fact that the state is basically going bankrupt. But it's the kind of place where people need cheap accommodations, too, especially around the big cities.

Florida has pretty high property taxes, that's the downside, but taxation is definitely less than in BC.

-- Tue May 19, 2009 4:50 pm --

But why then check the AILA when this an unreliable story? That's why I was asking for somebody who has made GOOD experiences with immigration laywers. Particularly, I'm interested in lawyers, serving these 3 states (Arizona, Florida, California).

The point she's making is that you might be asking the impossible there, i.e. a good experience!

E visas are done by the US consulate in BC if you live in BC, it's a relatively rare visa and given that most of the rest of the country uses the consulate in Toronto for E you're in an unusual situation applying for one.

What you really want isn't a lawyer in the US, you want an immigration consultant in BC preferably. You're applying from BC after all, a US immigration lawyer may not be that familiar with consulate filings, especially E visas in BC. But I'm afraid I don't know of any in BC, although I'm sure they exist, start with the phone book I guess.

E visas are complex to get: http://toronto.usconsulate.gov/content/ ... ment=evisa but you need to file it in BC.