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We have a Canadian business that is incorporated.
We wish to conduct business in the US and to possibly establish an office in Washington State.
What type of visa would be needed, and is there a minimum investment needed?
PS, the business is graphic design, web solutions - essentially a service oriented business.
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david ingram replies:
1. Employees of your Canadian business can enter the US to sell your Canadian Products. To put it in context, "you" could go into Washington or Florida or Nevada or any other state and sell your services to anybody provided you brought the business back to Canada to produce. You could negotiate the contract, the delivery, the quality, etc., but you could NOT accept a cheque as a deposit. The cheque or deposit has to be mailed back to Canada.
You could NOT sit down and do someof it there.
Once the Web site was designed, you could take a disk or CD or something and go to their business and establish it on their own server. However, unless it did not work because of a glitch, you could not make changes to the program once there. If the original contract was for a year or three year's maintenance, you could "fix" it within the US for the period of the original contract, but you can not make changes in the US and you can NOT negotiate another contract to extend the maintenance. The original contract time is "it".
You or any of your Canadian employees can perform these services plus market research to determine the business under the auspices of being a business visitor under a B1 status in the US. goto www.centa.com and click on [Entering the US] at the top left for more information.
2. You or a principal of the business could decide to go to the US as a Business Investor in the E2 status. This would require significant investment and the terms are explained well by Dennis Olsen (a former US Consul in Vancouver) who guest wrote a dissertation on this Visa in our January 1995 newsletter. You can find this out be going to www.centa.com - click on newsletters - click on 1995 - click on January. An E2 visa does not allow the holder to apply for US permanent residency and citizenship.
3. The Canadian Business could establish a branch in the US. At that time, a general manager, a specialist supervisor or a person of super knowledge of the business could be transferred to the US in those positions. They would be transferred under an L classification. This visa would allow them to upgrade to a resdient alien (green) card and apply for US citizenship. This route can be cheaper than an E2 and provides a better visa. However the L visa runs out if you do not apply for the resident alien card and the E2 visa can renew forever. And, the L visa is automatically cancelled, if the Canadian business closes its doors.
Goto www.centa.com and click on [Entering the US] for more information.
Any and all of the individuals you have working in the US are required to file a US tax return for the time they spend earning money (paid from Canada and / or the US) with or without a specific visa. They will also have to file individual state returns for states that services are performed in. Read [US/Canada Taxation] top left at www.centa.com.
We do a [Business Expansion into the US] seminar but have none planned at the moment. However, teh November 1999 Newsletter gives a short outline of "what-ifs" you might run into. Although I hate to sound commerical, you and anyone involved in the decision should likely book a couple of hours and come over and talk about it.
david ingram
David Ingram of the CEN-TA REALTY Group
US / Canada / Mexico tax and working Visa Specialists
US / Canada Real Estate Specialists
108-100 Park Royal South
West Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V7T 1A2
(604) 980-0321 - Fax 913-9123 [email protected]
www.centa.com www.david-ingram.com
Disclaimer: This question has been answered without detailed information or consultation and is to be regarded only as general comment. Nothing in this message is or should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. No contract exists between the reader and the author and any and all non-contractual duties are expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from a competent and appropriately qualified legal practitioner or tax specialist in connection with personal or business affairs such as at www.centa.com. If you forward this message, this disclaimer must be included."
Be ALERT, the world needs more "lerts"
3. You could
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