Do I have to Hire Employees for an E-1 Visa?

An E-1 Visa is available for foreign nationals who wish to live in the U.S. based on international trade that exists between the U.S. and the Treaty Country. One big advantage of an E-1 visa is that you do not need to invest any money in the U.S. before the E-1 visa is granted (unlike an E-2 visa).

The short answer is: no! There is no marginality requirement for an E-1 visa. This means, that you do not have to show in your E-1 petition that the business already has U.S. workers or has future capacity to hire U.S. workers in your E-1 petition. Hiring of U.S. workers is a requirement for an E-2 investor visa, but is not a requirement for an E-1 visa.

If your business does already have U.S. employees or plans to hire U.S. employees that is great, and we would definitely mention it in the application (hiring U.S. workers will always be helpful for any type of visa petition).

You can read our blog post on What are the E-1 visa requirements here.

Please see our Chart that compares the E-1 and E-2 visa when you click here.