hi everyone this is Joseph Tsang today we'll be talking about a e2 success story now this is a
lizard company it's founded by a young graduate that just got out of MBA school and it's a perfect
success story because he was young the funds were little it's a new concept and he had a
short amount of time and he had a big reason to do it and it's very difficult but it ultimately
succeeded so it's a perfect example to go through the entire thing so anybody watching you guys have
any questions about it if he can do it you could probably do it too so here's how it started he's
about to graduate in a few months his MBA and he was from Taiwan and Taiwan in the u.s has a treaty
where if people are able to invest and start a company they are allowed to be in the u.s on an
e-2 visa and he was young and he didn't want to go back to Taiwan he really wanted to stay and he's
been doing this project for the entire school and he wanted to start this lizard cage company right
and one huge reason why he didn't want to go back is because if he were to go back he would
be in a draft and he would have to go join the military and everything that he planned would be
on standstill and so it kind of sucks and so he really needed to stay now typically when clients
sit down and we're planning out the e2 case funds and startup usually we have a long time to really
build it up but in this case we had just a few months one other complication is that most people
i mean i'm just throwing a number out there 90 or more of people who apply for e2 typically
apply for it overseas at the consulate where you get to have a face-to-face interview with the
consular officer and they get to ask you about the business plan your motivation your board of
directors your clientele your marketing plan it's it's like an investor pitch conference now if you
don't do it overseas in a consulate and you do it in the us there is no interview you submit all
the paperwork and documentation kind of to like to an underwriter if you're getting refinance
they review everything and then they issue you their opinion whether they approve it deny it
or they request for more evidence but there is no one-on-one opportunity that being said
the reason why that's important is because he couldn't go back to Taiwan for this interview
because if he did and he would not be able to come back out because he'll be in the military
if he does it in the u.s of paperwork and documentation is just that much higher because the
officer doesn't get a chance to see you face to face hear your passion they just see documentation
with only a little bit of time to prepare go from zero to filing to approval
it was a very high stress situation and it was a catch-22 like all e2s
the person investing the person building this company their question is well i don't want to
invest that much unless i'm for sure going to get the visa what if i get denied then
everything was wasted and i have to go back and join the military and why would i spend that much
money to start but then the u.s government will say well if you don't invest that much how do i
know you really intend to do it so it's it's a cash 22. it's always a balancing between
well let's do as much as you can and let's really show your best efforts well that's
what we did so we sat down and we start with a story what kind of business do you want to do
you're young you don't have that much funds the funds he has he only has about sixty thousand
dollars to start a company that's barely enough for one or two employee salary right
not including overhead lease supply it's just very very very little so what kind of company
do you want to do well he stumbled upon this lizard cage company him and his partner they
have lizards as their pets and they've been trying to have find a good cage but throughout
the marketplace they just couldn't find one that they liked so they designed one themselves
and built it out in from a factory in china and it's actually pretty awesome and after they got
the prototype and they themselves love it they showed the other lizard community and everybody
likes it people been ordering it then they started going to trade shows and conferences and people
were putting in tons of orders and they're designing new blueprints and so they think it's
a profitable business it's a future it totally makes sense coming out of an MBA program he knows
how to do a business plan he knows how to do the accounting the sales the the business the business
plan model generation that they learn in business school they were to put all of that together and
it came up with a pretty convincing story why it makes sense but that's just the beginning
to qualify for e2 you need so much more than just a business concept that makes sense
you need the licensing you need suppliers you need contracts you need employees you need a lot of
those information to for the officer to see okay it is a real enterprise it is more than marginal
um you are a true investor and you're directing and you're not just pawning it off to some
other employee and you have the required funds it came lawfully there's all these other requirements
and we had to do all of that in a very short amount of time while not investing too much
because he didn't want because he knew that his chances of getting it was super slim
we got together right when he graduated we filed it so he could lawfully stay in the u.s and then
he gets a request for evidence a very detailed request for evidence asking him where he got the
funds how he got it all the licensing he didn't in business school you learn about accounting you
learn about management you learn about investment you learn about business you do business studies
you learn you read case studies you do not learn how to find a business license you do not know
what form to fill out to get your EIN number there was a lot of things that he couldn't do
and he didn't do to set up this company and he had to do all of that in the request for evidence and
explain why he didn't do it earlier and why he filled some forms out incorrectly he was asked
your employees how many employees you have he didn't have any employees because he didn't
want to spend money on employees it's all friends and family helping him and so preparing all that
explanation and with everybody affirming that they are taking a pay cut now but once he gets his visa
then they will become full-time employees and it is a beautiful company that they're really
excited about joining but only if he gets the visa and the business can kick off so through a
series of very detailed packaging responded to the request for evidence and then he got it so
this is totally a story where it's a young professional wanting to start something the u.s
allows for that i know a lot of other attorneys at conferences that i go to that talk about e-2
some attorneys don't take on cases unless it's over 200,000 in investment because anything shy of
that it's just so hard to prove that it's a real operating business we've done cases where it's
only a thirty thousand that's probably the lowest we've gone but sixty thousand seventy eighty
thousand for a young student that's just coming out of school and investing in the business it's
doable it's totally doable and i think officers understand that they're not just going through a
check box they really are receptive to these kind of presentations and if you can demonstrate that
it is a real uh if you can demonstrate it is a real business that you are trying to kick off
and you're working as hard as you can and you're kind of like Phil Knight when you just started
nike working out of a basement with your with the basement being the storage it's understandable
and i think with the blueprints with going to trade shows it really solidified his case
and now he doesn't have to go back and go to the military he's able to launch his lizard
company business in the u.s who knows if lizard pets become the next biggest thing in the world
then the u.s will become a leader in lizard cage design because of this e-2 approval so who knows
anyways it's been a pleasure and if you guys have any questions about e-2 if you want to sit
down with the strategy session we'll be happy to let's get coffee sometime thank you take care bye