US Relocation: Visa, Company and Tax
Visa, US company formation and cross-border tax from one firm — for founders, investors and executives worldwide who plan their move to the US as one connected step.
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A founder, investor or executive relocating to the US does not face one decision but three that are linked: the right visa, the right US company, and the tax structure on both sides of the border. This page sets out how we bring those three strands together in one coordinated, attorney-led engagement — so the choices made when the company is formed fit the visa, and the tax does not have to be repaired after the fact. Our attorneys are based in Frankfurt and advise clients worldwide.
The real work sits in the order and the seams. The legal form of your US company affects your visa eligibility. Your visa status determines your tax residency. And any exit or departure tax in your home country can usually only be structured in advance, never retroactively. That is why we treat the visa, the formation and the tax not as three separate mandates but as one path.
- Three strands, one mandate: visa, US company formation and cross-border tax from one firm
- Two common visa routes: E-2 (investment) or L-1 (transfer from an existing company you already run abroad)
- Order matters: tax structure before entry, company formed to match the visa, payroll only after status
- Not for everyone: with a family tie, outstanding credentials or a purely passive investment, a different program may fit better
- Billed as an individual firm engagement, not a fixed package price
This page is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Which steps make sense in which order for you is something we assess against your own situation.
What does a coordinated US relocation cover?
A coordinated relocation brings visa, US company formation and cross-border tax into one engagement instead of splitting them across three advisors who never speak to each other. That split is exactly where the most expensive mistakes happen.
The reason is simple: the three strands are not independent projects but interlocking gears. A tax advisor who recommends your US company as a pass-through LLC on purely tax grounds can inadvertently complicate your E-2 eligibility if the ownership is not cleanly arranged around the controlling majority. A formation service that spins the company up fast and cheap in any state rarely thinks about the evidence the consulate will later want for the visa. And a home-country advisor handling your departure often does not know that an exit or departure tax on your existing shareholdings can be triggered the moment you move your centre of life — months before the US company is even running.
Our practice in numbers
The figures below describe our mandate practice, not general program facts.
The path to the US: the three strands
The relocation breaks into three strands — visa, formation, tax — that build on each other and that we plan together before the first application is filed.
1. Visa
It starts with the question of the basis on which you, and where relevant your team, enter the US. For international founders and investors, two routes are the most common: the E-2 treaty investor visa, if you invest substantial capital in a US business, and the L-1 visa, if you link an existing company you already run abroad to a US entity and transfer a key person.
The E-2 (and the related E-1 trade visa) require the nationality of a treaty country — eligibility depends on the passport you hold, not where you currently live. The US maintains a public list of treaty countries at travel.state.gov, and many European nations appear on it. Check your own nationality against that official list, or ask us, before assuming the E-2 is open to you. The L-1 has no treaty requirement.
The two visas differ substantially in requirements, duration and renewal logic:
| Feature | E-2 (investor) | L-1 (transfer) |
|---|---|---|
| Requirement | Controlling interest (≥ 50% or operational control), substantial investment | 1 year of continuous employment at the related company abroad |
| Initial validity | 2–5 years | New office: 1 year; existing office: up to 3 years |
| Renewal | Indefinite, in increments of up to 5 years | Managers/executives up to 7 years, specialized knowledge up to 5 years |
| Spouse | Work authorization (EAD) available | Work authorization (EAD) available |
| Annual cap | none | none |
Kari Foss-Persson, US-licensed attorney in Frankfurt, frames the two routes this way: “If you already run a viable company abroad, the L-1 often gets you into the US faster and with less capital tied up than a fresh E-2 investment. Without an existing company, the E-2 is usually the more direct route. Tell us about the visa before you touch the formation service — I have seen too many clients set up a US LLC first and then have to unwind the ownership structure to make the visa work.”
Which route holds depends on your starting position — the full requirements, process and costs are on the respective pages:
- E-2 investor visa — invest in a US business you run yourself
- L-1 visa — transfer from an existing company you run abroad into a related US office
How the L-1 route plays out for a company that already operates abroad is shown by the following case:
- Situation
- A company with an established German GmbH wanted to open a US sales office and transfer its managing director, but had already asked a US formation service to set up the entity as a plain pass-through LLC before calling us.
- Approach
- New-office L-1A chosen, the qualifying relationship between the GmbH and the US subsidiary re-papered to survive scrutiny, corporate structure adjusted to match, and the cross-border taxation of salary and profits aligned.
- Outcome
- L-1A granted for one year initially after one supplemental request on the corrected corporate structure, US operation started, extension prepared with a solid business plan.
2. Formation
Once the visa target is set, the US company is built to match it. The formation choices — state selection, legal form, how the operating agreement is drafted — bear directly on visa eligibility: the E-2 requires a controlling interest, the L-1 a qualifying relationship between your company abroad and the US company. We set the structure up so it supports the application rather than complicating it.
In practice that means the ownership is documented so the controlling majority for the E-2 is provable; in an L-1 scenario the corporate structure (parent, subsidiary or affiliate) is set up and evidenced so the qualifying relationship stands up to the consulate without gaps. The operating agreement, the EIN application and the opening of the US bank account follow that logic, not the other way around.
- US company formation — state selection, LLC formation, EIN and US bank account
3. Tax
The third strand is cross-border tax. Your visa status determines your tax residency, the legal form of your US company sets how profits are taxed, and leaving your home country can trigger an exit or departure tax on unrealized gains — for example on shares in a company you own. These questions can only be structured in advance, which is why tax belongs in the plan before you enter the US.
An exit or departure tax is, in many countries, a trap with a fixed trigger: it can attach to the moment you give up tax residency and tax the notional gain on significant shareholdings as if you had sold on the day of departure. Germany’s Wegzugsbesteuerung (§ 6 AStG) is one well-known example, but similar rules exist elsewhere, so the details depend on your own country. Anyone who considers this only after the move has often already let the triggering moment pass. On top of that come the ongoing US reporting duties — FBAR for foreign accounts, FATCA-relevant filings — plus alignment with the applicable tax treaty so the same income is not fully taxed in both countries.
- Cross-border tax planning — tax treaties, corporate structure, FBAR, FATCA and exit tax
How closely the tax structure hinges on the timing of your departure is shown by this founder who relocated for the long term:
- Situation
- A founder wanted to build the US market on site himself and relocate permanently, with no existing US structure and a German GmbH shareholding that would trigger Wegzugsbesteuerung the moment he gave up German tax residency.
- Approach
- E-2 chosen as the visa route, a US company set up with a controlling interest, investment and business plan documented, and the German exit tax on his GmbH shareholding structured — including a deferral application — before his departure date was fixed.
- Outcome
- E-2 granted, company operational, double taxation limited via the applicable tax treaty, exit tax ordered in good time before the triggering moment.
Visa, formation and tax interlock. The order — first settle the visa goal, then form the company to match, then structure the tax — prevents choices that can only be undone later at high cost.
What goes wrong when three advisors work separately?
Separate advisors each optimize their own strand and miss the seams — the most common damage shows up in legal form, payroll start and exit-tax timing. Three typical sequencing traps show the pattern.
Legal form against visa evidence. A pass-through LLC is often attractive on tax grounds but can complicate the E-2 case if ownership and control are not cleanly documented, or if several investors dilute the controlling majority. If the company is formed purely tax-optimized, the structure sometimes has to be rebuilt for the visa application afterwards — expensive and slow.
Payroll start before status. Setting up a US company and putting yourself or employees on US payroll before the right work status is in place creates facts that count against you in the visa process. Salary payments without work authorization are a classic pitfall — avoidable when formation, payroll and visa are planned in one place.
Exit-tax timing missed. A home-country exit or departure tax is typically triggered by moving your centre of life — not by the US company formation and not by the visa grant. Anyone who moves first and addresses the tax structure afterwards may already have crossed the decisive moment. Arrangements that only work in advance (a deferral, an adjusted ownership structure) are often no longer available after departure.
A home-country departure tax typically attaches to the moment of departure, not to the US formation. Considered only after the move, the room to structure it is usually lost.
Common pitfalls
Beyond the three big sequencing traps, the same detail pitfalls recur in practice:
- US bank account without physical presence. Many US banks require an in-person visit or an existing US address. Failing to plan for it blocks the capital investment the E-2 is meant to prove.
- A “marginal” E-2 investment. The E-2 requires the business to generate more than just the investor’s living. An investment calculated too tightly, or a business plan with no job-creation effect, leads to refusal.
- L-1 “new office” without a solid plan. For a new entity the L-1 is granted for one year at first. Without a concrete business plan, leased premises and a hiring outlook, the extension fails after twelve months.
- Tax residency in the grey zone. Failing to consciously manage the line into US tax residency (the Substantial Presence Test) can leave you fully taxable in both countries before the treaty applies.
- FBAR and FATCA deadlines overlooked. Reporting duties for foreign accounts begin with US tax residency. Missed filings can trigger significant penalties — a point a home-country advisor rarely tracks.
What does the coordinated sequence look like month by month?
The coordinated sequence plans the whole picture first, then sets up company and tax structure in parallel, and files the visa only once the facts line up. Roughly, it spans about three to six months.
- 1
Month 1 — First consultation and overall plan
We clarify your starting position, the right visa route (E-2 or L-1), and the tax questions to structure before entry. The moment of departure is set deliberately.
- 2
Month 1--2 — Fix the tax structure before anything is triggered
Home-country departure tax, future US residency, tax treaty and reporting obligations are settled — while the room to structure is still open.
- 3
Month 2--3 — Form the company to match the visa
State selection, legal form, ownership, EIN and US bank account are built around the E-2 or L-1 requirements and fully documented.
- 4
Month 3--4 — Prepare and file the visa application
We prepare the E-2 or L-1 application, document the investment or the corporate relationship, and file with USCIS or the US embassy.
- 5
Month 4--6 — Entry and ongoing support
Once approved you enter and start work. Only now does US payroll begin. Extensions, compliance and ongoing tax we handle on a continuing basis.
That this sequence also carries a joint relocation with different roles is shown by the following case:
- Situation
- A German couple sold their small events-catering business at home and planned to move together to take over an existing US café and events venue; one partner would invest under the E-2, the other needed to work in the US, and both still held a rental apartment back home.
- Approach
- E-2 for the investing partner, US company formed to acquire the venue, work authorization prepared for the spouse by status, and the German tax obligations on the business sale and the retained rental property coordinated alongside the new US reporting duties.
- Outcome
- Both partners with valid status in the US, spouse work-authorized, reporting obligations (FBAR, FATCA) set up in time.
Formation does not follow the tax structure but goes hand in hand with it. If the company is set up without regard to exit tax and residency, facts are created that are hard to change later.
Who is the coordinated relocation not for?
Not every US relocation needs all three strands — and in some situations a single specialized mandate or a different program is the more honest route.
- You are moving to the US without a business purpose. Anyone immigrating through a family tie (spouse, US citizenship) is better served by a family visa than by an investor structure.
- You have outstanding professional credentials and need no company. For leaders in science, the arts or business, the O-1 visa or an EB-1A / EB-2 NIW can be the more direct route — no capital tied up and no company formation.
- You want only to invest, not to run the business. Anyone seeking a permanent green card through a passive investment should look at the EB-5 program; the E-2 requires active management and a controlling interest.
- Your company stays in Europe and you need only occasional US presence. For short business trips the visa waiver or a B-1 visa is often enough — no company formation and no departure.
Which of these routes holds for you, we tell you openly — including when the answer is that you need not a coordinated relocation but only a single component.
Cost and consultation
A relocation mandate is not billed as the fixed price of a package but as an individual firm engagement scoped to the three strands your case actually needs. The exact shape depends on the chosen visa, the complexity of the corporate structure, and the tax workload.
For orientation, the fees for the individual components are set out on their own pages: the E-2 visa starts from around EUR 3,000, the L-1 from around EUR 4,000, each plus government fees (E-2 from around USD 315, L-1 from around USD 2,485); company formation and tax advice are agreed separately. In the first consultation we settle which strands your case genuinely needs and turn them into a single, transparent engagement — no off-the-shelf package price, no hidden items.
The consultation costs EUR 75 (plus VAT) for 30 minutes and is credited in full toward your fee if you engage us. In it we clarify which visa route holds, how the company should be set up, and which tax questions must be settled before entry.
Kari Foss-Persson, US-licensed attorney in Frankfurt: “The most expensive mistakes in a US relocation rarely happen inside the visa application itself, but at the seams — when the company is formed without regard to the visa, or the tax structure is only considered after the move. Those seams are exactly what we plan first. If you have a firm departure date in mind, come to us before you set it — the home-country tax structuring almost always needs a head start on the visa filing, not the other way around.”