If you want to hire an attorney to assist with your E2 visa application, be sure you understand what services they can (and cannot) provide before signing a contract. Do not make the mistake of spending thousands on legal fees and then having your application denied because an unqualified or inexperienced practitioner prepared it. Here are three important aspects to know:
1) An attorney should never guarantee your E2 visa application will be approved
No attorney can predict with any certainty whether or not the immigration office will approve an E2 visa application, just as no attorney can guarantee that you will win your case in front of a federal court or n administrative law judge. Any representation that your case is guaranteed to be approved or that it will go before a judge would suggest malpractice on the part of the immigration lawyer. Although client testimonials may lead you to believe otherwise, read the fine print carefully before signing up for any legal services!
2) Your estate planning documents may become invalid if prepared by an unqualified practitioner
If your lawyer has only general knowledge of immigration law, they may not understand the consequences of certain estate planning instruments. For example, if your will directs that your assets be given to a foreign beneficiary upon death, your assets would pass outside the tax system. The income tax obligations associated with those assets could exceed their value after you die. That could result in an “orphan’s tax” levied against all persons who are beneficiaries or heirs at law to those assets left behind by the deceased. Under these circumstances, family members can lose everything they expected to inherit from their loved ones after paying thousands in taxes. However, some people have avoided such issues by hiring an e2 visa lawyer Los Angeles-based.
3) A foreign national cannot simultaneously hold an E2 visa and another non-immigrant status
Be advised that you may not hold more than one non-immigrant status at a time. Your E2 visa application will be denied if you already hold another non-immigrant status and therefore do not meet the requirements for an E2 visa. If you consider hiring an attorney that suggests otherwise, they likely have little or no experience preparing E2 visa applications.
