The Employee Visa Program™
For U.S. businesses sponsoring foreign employees in executive, managerial, treaty, or specialized-knowledge roles. We handle the position analysis, the documentation, and the attorney coordination, so your hire can start on Day 1.
1,200+ entrepreneurs served across 80+ countries
The program covers all four, plus the EB-1C residency path. The right category is confirmed with the independent immigration attorney during intake.
| Visa | Best for | Treaty country required | Max stay | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TreatyE-2 Essential Employee | Executives, managers, or specialized-knowledge employees of an E-2 enterprise | Yestreaty investor country | Renewable indefinitely (2 to 5 yr per country) | ~6 monthsfrom signing |
| TreatyE-1 Treaty Employee | Executives, managers, or essential-skill employees of a qualifying E-1 trader | Yestreaty trader country | Renewable indefinitely (2 to 5 yr per country) | ~6 monthsfrom signing |
| IntracompanyL-1A | Intracompany transferee in an executive or managerial role | No | Up to 7 years | ~6 monthsfrom signing |
| IntracompanyL-1B | Intracompany transferee with specialized knowledge | No | Up to 5 years | ~6 monthsfrom signing |
Why sponsorship, why now
Most companies picture one thing when they decide to sponsor: the H-1B lottery, once a year, with odds they do not control. Treaty and intracompany categories run on a different calendar. It is the most underutilized mechanism in employer sponsorship.
35%
USCIS selected 118,660 of 336,153 registered beneficiaries. Two out of three went nowhere.
77,249
Up 7.6% over FY2024, within 2.6% of the FY2016 baseline. No cap, no registration window.
$100K
A supplemental payment on certain new H-1B petitions for beneficiaries abroad, in litigation through 2026.
No PERM
Per USCIS, the multinational manager and executive category skips labor certification.
Sources: USCIS FY2026 H-1B cap data; U.S. Department of State FY2025 nonimmigrant visa statistics; USCIS EB-1 guidance. Whether a category applies to your company is a legal question the independent immigration attorney assesses.
The problem
Sponsorship rarely stalls because the company is not real. It stalls on how the position was documented, and on who owned the pieces between the offer letter and Day 1.
Executive, managerial, essential-skill, and specialized-knowledge roles are each documented differently. A description written to attract candidates rarely holds what the file needs, and rewriting it later looks like what it is.
Adam and Bo Tait were ready to file as two investors in the same business. The attorney showed them the cost: double the capital at risk. Structure gets decided once.
Payroll, I-9, state registration, the SSN, the dependent visas. The attorney files the petition. Everything around it lands on an HR manager doing it for the first time.
Choose your path
One process, two destinations. The independent immigration attorney confirms which one fits during intake.
Best for U.S. employers sponsoring an employee under a nonimmigrant visa category: E-2 treaty essential, E-1 treaty, L-1A executive or managerial, or L-1B specialized knowledge.
Best for U.S. employers sponsoring an executive or manager who has worked at a qualifying foreign affiliate for at least one year. Permanent residency pathway.
Success stories
Two companies that filed the person as an employee instead of a second investor.
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Brothers and business partners, Sarnia to Port Huron
"We would essentially have to double it."
Adam filed as the E-2 investor. Bo was going to file as a second investor until the attorney laid out the cost. He came over as an essential employee instead and now runs U.S. operations as COO.
Watch their story →
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CEO and founder, FGC Performance
"Is it easy? No. Is it stressful? Yes. But it's 100% doable."
James sold his UK facility and brought two investor couples into the U.S. company. Days before submission, the attorney recommended filing him as an essential employee instead. His first Las Vegas hire started before he moved.
Watch his story →Individual results vary. Outcomes depend on each case and are assessed by the independent immigration attorney.
Included in the program
Your hire lands with an approval and a suitcase. The bank account, the lease, the school, the payroll setup: that is what the Launchpad covers.
Relocation services
Relocating a key employee means more than moving boxes. Our specialists guide the area search, connect essential services, and get the family settled.
Find your US path-p-3200.jpg)
Tell us about the role, the company, and the person you want in it. We walk you through the program and set up the strategy session with the independent immigration attorney, who assesses eligibility.
This is not an eligibility determination. Whether your company and your hire qualify is a legal question, assessed by the independent immigration attorney.
Common questions
No. Most of the companies we work with are small and mid-sized. What matters is the structure of the company and the shape of the role, which the attorney reviews in the strategy session.
The nonimmigrant path covers temporary work categories. EB-1C is a permanent residency route for an executive or manager with at least one year at a qualifying foreign affiliate. Our scope is the same in both cases; the difference is the petition the attorney files. Which one fits is the attorney's assessment.
The independent immigration attorney files it. Visa Franchise is a business consulting firm, not a law firm, so the legal work sits with the attorney. We work alongside the attorney throughout, from the introduction and the strategy session to the handoff of every document. On our end we handle the position analysis, the documentation, the clerical preparation for the attorney's use, and the onboarding on both sides of the filing.
Around six months from signing to a decision, though cases move at the speed of their weakest document. Timelines depend on document readiness, consular availability, and agency processing, none of which we control.
Dependent visas are part of the process we support, and our checklists cover the practical side (SSN appointments, driver's licenses, school enrollment). Who qualifies as a dependent and what they can do here are legal questions the attorney answers.