1. President Biden signs bill NDAA

On December 24th, 2022, President Biden officially put pen to paper the NDAA bill, putting the new E2 visa rules into law and taking effect immediately.

The NDAA, or composite bill that expands a wide range of government programs and spending, is nearly 2,000 pages long. However, the part of the text specifically related to the E2 visa change is in paragraph 5902 which is relatively brief, which states the following:

The content is quoted in the law of December 24, 2022

It can be seen that the act is intended to prevent CBI jurisdictions from using E-2 visa rights as a high value proposition to sell the country's citizenship by investment programs. But the law is also well worded and gives coherent explanations.

The AMIGOS Act in the NDAA will provide E1 and E2 visas to CBI investors of treaty countries (Greneda, Turkey, Montenegro, etc.) only if they have resided in this country for at least 3 years.

2. Experts from CBI countries react to the change of the E-2 visa bill.

Reacting to the news of the E2 visa change, expert attorney Angie Rupert, principal of Rupert Law Group, said her team is still assessing the impact of this on Grenada's CIP. They are looking for ways to clarify what “residence” and “financial investment” look like.

How the US government interprets the two terms will be crucial in determining whether countries like Grenada, Turkey or Montenegro can continue to use the E-2 visa benefit as a selling point. for the citizenship by investment program.

The interpretation of the US government will affect the program of Greneda, Turkey,…

The legal systems of the United States and Grenada are both derived from common law, the term "residence" (often related to tax settlement) being the country in which the individual resides and his or her permanent residence. In practice, determining the country of residence often involves making a qualitative argument.

How will the US government interpret “financial investment”? To define an irrevocable donation to the National Transformation Fund of Grenada, it is clear that the CBI investors will not receive any financial return.

3. Portugal Golden Visa investors have the opportunity to own the US E2 visa

The AMIGOS Act will grant the right to apply for E1 Treaty Trader and E2 Treaty Investor visas to citizens and investors in the Portuguese Golden Visa program. This is the type of resident visa that the US government will issue to applicants who are citizens of a country that has signed a Bilateral Agreement (Treaty E2).

With this change of E2 visa, Portuguese citizens will have more rights to live and work in the country. Above all, this will add to the appeal of the Golden Visa Portugal, one of the outstanding European citizenship programs.

E2 Visa is an advantage for Golden Visa Portugal

Thus, the Portuguese Golden Visa is the next program allowed to apply for an E2 visa, after the investment program for citizenship of Greneda, Turkey and Montenegro.

4. Countries that enjoy E2 visa policy

Up to now, up to 18 countries have signed the E2 Bilateral Agreement. However, each family will have a different visa period from 3 months to 5 years, depending on the “privilege period”.

Include:

1. Egypt: 3 months
2. Jordan: 3 months
3. Montenegro: 1 year
4. Georgia: 1 year
5. Albania: 3 years
6. Australia: 4 years
7. Armenia: 5 years
8. Canada: 5 years
9. Panama: 5 years
10. Paraguay: 5 years
11. Greneda: 5 years
12. Ireland: 5 years
13. Korea: 5 years
14. Latvia: 5 years
15. Spain: 5 years
16. Turkey: 5 years
17. United Kingdom: 5 years
18. Italy: 5 years

Thus, Egypt and Jordan are two countries with at least E2 visa duration (3 months), and up to 12 countries have E2 visa terms up to 5 years.

To update other E2 visa change policies, please contact iCanfield for more information!

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iCanfield Vietnam Immigration & Study Abroad Consulting Company 

Address: 93 Nguyen Du, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, HCMC

Hotline: 028.3822.0285