Treaty Traders and Investors

Admission of certain nonimmigrant traders and investors under the Immigration and Nationality Act is based on the existence of treaties, special statutory provisions, and other instruments conferring treaty-based visa eligibility. The Department of State regularly updates its list of all such instruments. Treaty visas are part of the United States’ efforts to “enhance or facilitate economic and commercial interaction between the United States and the treaty country.”

Some of the benefits of this classification are the following:

1. An applicant for an E visa need not establish an intent to go to the United States for a specific temporary period.

2. An applicant for an E visa need not have an unabandoned foreign residence and ordinarily need only express an unequivocal intent to return abroad.

3. The spouse and children (unmarried and under age 21) of a treaty trader or investor are entitled to the same E1 or E2 classification as the principal visa holder. The nationality of a spouse or child of a principal E visa holder is not material to their classification as E1 or E2.

Read Next: Other Nonimmigrant Visas

Related Links

• Nonimmigrant visas: Introduction

• Temporary Professionals and Trainees

• Intra Company Transferees

• Other Nonimmigrant Visas

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