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Hi everyone,
Sorry if this has already been talked about separately, I wanted to share my specific circumstances and see if anyone knows the answer.
I am a UK national.
I moved to the USA with my employer on an L1-B visa in October of 2013.
I was promoted to a managerial position in July 2015, and worked as a manager in the USA in same line of service until September of 2016.
In October 2016 I was promoted once again and switched departments, my work visa expired and so I had to exit the USA to obtain an L1-A visa which was granted.
I have now been in the new department since November 2016 and they have approved me to obtain a green card.
I provided various bits of information to our immigration services team who have stated that I would likely be eligible under the E-2 category. This is contrary to everything that I'd heard before and I believed I should have been eligible under and E-1 category. The E-2 category currently has (according to immigration services a 3.5-4.5 year backlog). I cannot wait this long as that would far exceed my visa max out date.
It is quite possible that the guy from immigration services doesn't know for sure, and he said that he wouldn't know until lawyers had reviewed my case. That being said, for me to proceed to that step in the process I have to agree to an expense reimbursement where they could claim fees (approximately $20,000) back from me should I leave prior to the green card process completing or within 2 years of obtaining the greencard. If I end up in the backlog I will clearly not be able to stay that long and thus may be subject to reimbursement.
Anyone have an ideas which category I'm actually likely to be under before I take the risk and run with this?
Side note: a colleague of mine - similar story, just arrived in the US as a manager from the UK (he was not a manager in the UK previously) in July 2016 and was told his estimated time for the process will be 5-6 months. I think he is under the E1 category. I read somewhere that I needed to have been employed outside of the US as a manager for one year in the last 3 years. I certainly don't hit that criteria as I've been in the US for over 3 years, but he did not qualify as he was not a manager outside of the US - maybe this little detail was left out, and maybe this is why the initial reaction from immigration services is that I'd be in the E-2 category.
Any help is much appreciated.
Sorry if this has already been talked about separately, I wanted to share my specific circumstances and see if anyone knows the answer.
I am a UK national.
I moved to the USA with my employer on an L1-B visa in October of 2013.
I was promoted to a managerial position in July 2015, and worked as a manager in the USA in same line of service until September of 2016.
In October 2016 I was promoted once again and switched departments, my work visa expired and so I had to exit the USA to obtain an L1-A visa which was granted.
I have now been in the new department since November 2016 and they have approved me to obtain a green card.
I provided various bits of information to our immigration services team who have stated that I would likely be eligible under the E-2 category. This is contrary to everything that I'd heard before and I believed I should have been eligible under and E-1 category. The E-2 category currently has (according to immigration services a 3.5-4.5 year backlog). I cannot wait this long as that would far exceed my visa max out date.
It is quite possible that the guy from immigration services doesn't know for sure, and he said that he wouldn't know until lawyers had reviewed my case. That being said, for me to proceed to that step in the process I have to agree to an expense reimbursement where they could claim fees (approximately $20,000) back from me should I leave prior to the green card process completing or within 2 years of obtaining the greencard. If I end up in the backlog I will clearly not be able to stay that long and thus may be subject to reimbursement.
Anyone have an ideas which category I'm actually likely to be under before I take the risk and run with this?
Side note: a colleague of mine - similar story, just arrived in the US as a manager from the UK (he was not a manager in the UK previously) in July 2016 and was told his estimated time for the process will be 5-6 months. I think he is under the E1 category. I read somewhere that I needed to have been employed outside of the US as a manager for one year in the last 3 years. I certainly don't hit that criteria as I've been in the US for over 3 years, but he did not qualify as he was not a manager outside of the US - maybe this little detail was left out, and maybe this is why the initial reaction from immigration services is that I'd be in the E-2 category.
Any help is much appreciated.
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