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Good afternoon,
My employer and I are in a bit of a tricky situation that we've been trying to figure out for months. It seems like there actually is a way for sponsorship-ready employees to fall through the cracks of the U.S. immigration system, but I wanted to solicit some feedback from you since you might have dealt with something like this before. Honestly, I don't believe it can be that rare.
I'm a German citizen who works for a medium-sized (~70 employees) tech company from Utah. I hold a U.S. Bachelor's degree and a German Master's degree. I've been with this company since 2016 and have always been in a managerial position, but am not an actual shareholder of the company. Both of my degrees are in business (so no H-1B route here). To make things more complicated, the company I work for actually does not have an office in Germany. Rather, I work by myself out of my basement, as the company's sole representative in Europe. I spend about two months each year in Utah, working on special projects, training my team members, and interacting with other managers in the company. For this, I use the Visa Waiver Program for business visitors. The rest of the year, I do the same through video calls. I'm compensated very well for my work, and my earnings including bonuses would comfortably put me into the top 10% of income earners in the U.S., and that at a fairly young age.
My employer and I agree that in the medium-term (within about the next year or so), it would make sense for me to move back to the U.S. and work at our company HQ. The company has no experience whatsoever with visa sponsorships of any sort, so an overproportional part of the task to figure this out has fallen into my lap.
There are two common routes we have identified to move me to the U.S. at least semi-permanently: The L1 route or the EB route (likely EB-2 in my case). Each has its own problem, and it's my understanding that I may be disqualified from both.
L1 seems to require that the U.S. company would need a foreign office it can transfer me from. While I like to bask in feelings of grandiosity about my aforementioned basement, I don't believe it would pass the scrutiny test for a corporate office.
EB-2 seems to require that the foreign national is just getting hired, but I have yet to stumble over anything that speaks about eligibility for existing employees.
L1 would be our preference, simply because of the faster processing time, less paperwork, and non-permanent nature (I'm not certain if I would actually want to live in the U.S. permanently), so that's our primary target for now. However, if our concerns hold and my basement doesn't qualify as a corporate office, we'd be happy to resort to EB-2 instead.
First off, am I actually on the right track with this? Has this been a problem for anyone else, and how (if at all) have you resolved it?
Really, my libertarian self just wants the government to get out of the way of our company accomplishing the best solution for all parties, and let me pay taxes on my U.S. salary in the U.S. instead of Germany. But I'm afraid that it won't be so easy...
I'd be very appreciative of any help or advice from people who have walked the walk. Many thanks!
Squirrel
My employer and I are in a bit of a tricky situation that we've been trying to figure out for months. It seems like there actually is a way for sponsorship-ready employees to fall through the cracks of the U.S. immigration system, but I wanted to solicit some feedback from you since you might have dealt with something like this before. Honestly, I don't believe it can be that rare.
I'm a German citizen who works for a medium-sized (~70 employees) tech company from Utah. I hold a U.S. Bachelor's degree and a German Master's degree. I've been with this company since 2016 and have always been in a managerial position, but am not an actual shareholder of the company. Both of my degrees are in business (so no H-1B route here). To make things more complicated, the company I work for actually does not have an office in Germany. Rather, I work by myself out of my basement, as the company's sole representative in Europe. I spend about two months each year in Utah, working on special projects, training my team members, and interacting with other managers in the company. For this, I use the Visa Waiver Program for business visitors. The rest of the year, I do the same through video calls. I'm compensated very well for my work, and my earnings including bonuses would comfortably put me into the top 10% of income earners in the U.S., and that at a fairly young age.
My employer and I agree that in the medium-term (within about the next year or so), it would make sense for me to move back to the U.S. and work at our company HQ. The company has no experience whatsoever with visa sponsorships of any sort, so an overproportional part of the task to figure this out has fallen into my lap.
There are two common routes we have identified to move me to the U.S. at least semi-permanently: The L1 route or the EB route (likely EB-2 in my case). Each has its own problem, and it's my understanding that I may be disqualified from both.
L1 seems to require that the U.S. company would need a foreign office it can transfer me from. While I like to bask in feelings of grandiosity about my aforementioned basement, I don't believe it would pass the scrutiny test for a corporate office.
EB-2 seems to require that the foreign national is just getting hired, but I have yet to stumble over anything that speaks about eligibility for existing employees.
L1 would be our preference, simply because of the faster processing time, less paperwork, and non-permanent nature (I'm not certain if I would actually want to live in the U.S. permanently), so that's our primary target for now. However, if our concerns hold and my basement doesn't qualify as a corporate office, we'd be happy to resort to EB-2 instead.
First off, am I actually on the right track with this? Has this been a problem for anyone else, and how (if at all) have you resolved it?
Really, my libertarian self just wants the government to get out of the way of our company accomplishing the best solution for all parties, and let me pay taxes on my U.S. salary in the U.S. instead of Germany. But I'm afraid that it won't be so easy...
I'd be very appreciative of any help or advice from people who have walked the walk. Many thanks!
Squirrel
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