Moving to the Gulf Coast of Florida - Part 2 - By: IC

On returning home and steeled with resolve to stop daydreaming and do something about moving to Florida, we first resorted to probably one of the most powerful search tools around – the internet. We weren’t the first people to think about immigrating to Florida and wouldn’t be the last. What we found was a massive ex-pat community online via a number of forums, sharing their experiences and general tips on living in Florida that we could tap into. It was a great starting point. By reading what other genuine immigrants had gone through, it at least gave us a few key pointers on what direction to go in.

First and foremost, we discovered pretty much immediately that in our particular personal situation, there was only one type of visa open to us if we wished to reside in Florida. Although the US Immigration Department has many different types of visa available, you need to first work out which ones are applicable to your nationality. Then, once you’ve narrowed down the choices available, you again need to review which criteria you sit in so you know which visa(s) you can apply for.

In our personal case there was only one type of visa available – to be a business investor, otherwise known as an E-2 visa. Simply put this meant we had to purchase and run a business; effectively be self-employed. We could not arrive in Florida and get a job to support ourselves; this would be viewed as taking employment away from an American. The rules pertaining to this type of visa were that we must invest a minimum amount of money (the minimum is set by the US Government), run the business and grow it to certain profit targets as set by the US Embassy. We must employ a certain amount of US citizens. Therefore what the Embassy was basically telling us via the visa criteria was they wanted entrepreneurs who were going to contribute to society; people who would grow the economy and contribute.

On learning what the guideline minimum investment monetary amount was we had to stop and pause for a moment. It was a substantial but achievable amount of money. However in order for us to comply with the guideline amount, it required us to put our life’s savings on the line and gamble against a new life in Florida. To add to the dilemma, the visa rules stated that this was not a permanent visa or a green card. The visa on offer was valid for 2 or 5 years, depending on your case and what the US Embassy was willing to issue once they had reviewed your business case. You have the issued period of time to run your business, achieve the goals laid out by the Embassy and then re-apply for a renewal at the end of the term. If you have achieved or surpassed the goals set, you will probably receive a renewal for another 2 or 5 years. If you failed to meet your targets, then your visa would probably be revoked (every case is validated on an individual basis) and you have 2 weeks to pack up your life in Florida and return home.

A sobering thought. Gamble our life’s savings on a business venture that may or may not work with no citizenship at the end of it. By how much did we want to live in Florida? Were we prepared to stake everything we had on a daydream?

The simple answer was yes, we were. After mulling it over, we came to the conclusion that we were so unhappy with our current lives and direction we were going in we had to give it a shot. We didn’t want to “what if” the rest of our lives.

The other thing we gleaned from reading about other people’s experiences is we definitely felt we needed professional help to navigate the tricky laws of immigration and the protocol of the US Embassy. We needed an immigration specialist to guide us and help us with the paperwork.

And so the next step we needed to take was dictated to us by our initial research; find a good knowledgeable immigration expert who understood our needs and could guide us towards our goal.

About the Author

IC endorses Keely Smith of Gulf Coast Real Estate who is a partner in Florida vacation homes to rent and Florida pages, visit us and discover why there is no other place like Florida!

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