Attorney In Immigration
Posts tagged L1 Visa
How to Survive in America Without a Social Security Number
By Dave T Corby
Aug 24th
If you are planning to move to America to work then you would be well advised to attempt to apply for a Social Security Number so that you have it before you travel. This number is a unique identifier for everyone who has permission to work and is requested by many agencies as evidence of this permission and generally as proof of identity.
Most people move to America, when planning to work long term, on an H1B or L1 visa. The first is obtained by a company sponsoring you to a new role whereas the second is a transfer within a company that has branches in your country as well as the United States. Both of these visas provide permission to work for you and an almost automatic right for your spouse. There are many other means of entry although generally these are for seasonal or other short term work.
When I obtained my L1 visa it allowed my wife and two children to have an L2. The L2 allows for entry into the country and the right to go to school and college (the equivalent of an F1 visa). For the spouse it is said to provide permission to work – although we had to apply separately for a work permit using form I-765 and a fee of $340. This took a couple of months from application to obtain. It is useful to note that there is no right for your children to work. This is frustrating if they are over eighteen and they are treated like any other foreign national wanting to work in America. There is no fast track for them.
With permission to work comes the right to obtain a Social Security Number which is asked for constantly as you try to set up a new life in America starting with setting up a bank account for your pay check. Please note that you cannot get paid until you have this number and we had to wait over four weeks to obtain one after arriving in the country.
You may believe that you can live on money you bring into the country for those four weeks but there are many restrictions that make even this very difficult.
Firstly you probably want to rent a house or apartment but you will find that you cannot enter into a rental contract without a social security number. We were fortunate to have my company step in and arrange a joint lease at the last minute.
You will also want a car but you will not be able to start a lease and so may have to do what we did and pay the exorbitant fees for a hire car for all that time. It is good to add that even when we received the ‘SSN’ we still had a delay due to the lease company insisting on a local driving license even to the point of them getting into an argument with the Department of Motor Vehicles over what was required.
Having moved into your house you will want to arrange a landline telephone; mobile (cellphone) service; TV; Internet; and arrange medical insurance so that you do not have to pay full fees to the dentist and doctor. You cannot do any of these without the social security number.
The rule is that anything that requires a token of trust in the form of credit requires an SSN. Almost all services that you have set up at your house are provided in this way and so impossible until you have that identification number.
The dollars that you bring into the country will be very useful but do not think that you can change from your local currency if you run out. Amazingly to most of us in the rest of the world, there are no places to exchange money. There are no travel agents or exchange bureaus, and even the banks will take weeks, (yes weeks), to change from your pounds or euros or yen to dollars.
You may think that you can fall back on your credit cards. The banks are extremely vigilant when it comes to potential fraudulent use of their cards. It does not matter that you tell them again and again that you are living in America and so it really is you using them – they will constantly stop the card at the most embarrassing of moments. Of course you cannot have an American credit card until you have built up a long term credit history.
So the advice is to obtain your visas early and apply for an SSN a long time before you intend to move to America. But if you have to survive without an social security number then be sure to have a lot of cash and appeal to your company; landlord; friends and neighbors to be able to setup services in their name until you can become a fully recognised person in the United States of America.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Survive-in-America-Without-a-Social-Security-Number&id=4520262
Dependents Wanting to Work in America on an L2 Visa
By Dave T Corby
Aug 21st
As a Director in an international company wanting to work in America, the L1 Blanket, or L1 Visa, was probably the simplest visa to obtain. This is available to anyone in senior management who want to transfer from a UK company to an American branch of the same company. One benefit of this type of visa is that the dependents automatically receive an L2 visa.
With the L2 visas comes the automatic permission to go to school and college (the equivalent of an F1 visa) and particularly include the ability to claim residency in an area. School is always free, but declaring residency is of great financial benefit for the college student who is able to claim a substantial discount of many thousands of dollars.
It is useful to note that only the main applicant can obtain a Social Security Number on entry to America. This number is extremely important as proof of permission to work as well as a generally requested unique identification number. Not having one is very restrictive especially for adults.
When we applied for the L1 Blanket Visa we were pleased to hear that it included permission for the spouse to work. However, either through naivety or not reading the small print, we missed the fact that the work permit still needed to be applied for.
After some misguided discussions with the immigration service we discovered that the spouse has to fill out a form I-765: Application for Employment Authorization. A fee of $340 was also required. We did then receive the work permit but many months of income and work satisfaction were lost.
With the work permit comes the ability to obtain a Social Security Number. You cannot get paid without an SSN.
When thinking of relocating to America it is very important to seriously consider the objectives for your dependents who are, or will become, over eighteen. While they can enjoy the adventure of an American college they will undoubtedly want to earn money in one or more part-time jobs. This would certainly be in the plans of the majority of teenagers in England.
The problem is that as a dependent child on an L2 visa they are treated the same as any other foreign national (alien) wanting to work in America. Although you would not normally expect special treatment for your children, you may think that as they were brought along with you, and still a dependent, then there might have been a fast track way to obtain a work permit – even if it was only temporary until the age of twenty-one, or until the family went home.
However the truth is that the only way one of your dependents can work, other than your spouse, is to be sponsored into temporary ‘seasonal’ work or go through the full process of applying for a Greencard. This process can literally take years.
Having the opportunity to relocate to work in America is a wonderful chance to see how another culture lives and to open up the world to your children. Consider the plans for each individual in your family carefully and you will all be able to make the most of the adventure.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Dependents-Wanting-to-Work-in-America-on-an-L2-Visa&id=4546422
