Tomorrow, US immigration is beginning to accept applications for a specific type of visas called “E-2” from Israeli citizens. E-2s are based on reciprocal treaties. In anticipation of the new program, I’ve launched a new site (www.e2israel.com) and created an app to help determine eligibility for the visa.
The E-2 visa is one of the most important visas available to foreign-owned companies seeking to operate in the United States. Israel will be the 81st country to have E-2 visa availability for its nationals, but only the first new country to be added to the E-2 list since 2008. The addition was anticipated back in 2005 when the US Congress passed legislation to grant E-2 status to Israeli nationals. However, it has taken many years for both Israel and the US to clear away the hurdles and get to this point. While E-2 status is available to many countries, a number of large countries – China, Russia, Brazil and India to name a few – do not have this visa option.
The US Consulate in Tel Aviv and USCIS in the United States will begin accepting Israeli E-2 visas on May 1, 2019.
We have a formal press release following. You can see my post on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6529107212596445184/