The Visa That Exists Only If Your Country Signed a Treaty
Most American work categories ask about the job. One asks about the passport. The treaty trader and investor category is open only to a national of a foreign state that has a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States, to carry on substantial trade principally between the two states or to develop an investment. There is no equivalent for a national of a state with no such treaty, however qualified or well funded. Since 2022 the category also carries an anti-abuse clause aimed squarely at citizenship by investment: where the relevant nationality was acquired through a financial investment, the applicant must additionally have been domiciled in that state for three continuous years before applying.
At a glance
- What the category turns on
- A treaty between the United States and your state of nationality
- If your state has no treaty
- The category is closed to you, whatever your business
- Citizenship acquired by investment
- Three continuous years of domicile in that state as well
The clause reaches five states of this corpus that sell citizenship.
- Family
- Spouse and children accompany or follow to join
- The permanent routes
- Subject to the seven per cent ceiling, which has its own record
Requirements
- Nationality of a state with a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States
- Substantial trade principally between the two states, or the development of an investment
- Where the nationality was bought: three continuous years of domicile in that state
Country-level policy
One provision shapes almost every permanent route into the United States for this corpus, and it is two paragraphs long. Paragraph (a)(1) forbids discrimination in issuing an immigrant visa because of race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence. Paragraph (a)(2) then provides that no single foreign state may receive more than 7 per cent of the family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visas available in a fiscal year. The second is written as an express exception to the first. The ceiling is per state of birth rather than per citizenship, and because demand from a few states is far above 7 per cent of the total, the practical effect is that people born in those states wait years or decades longer than people born elsewhere with identical qualifications and identical sponsors.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«(E) an alien entitled to enter the United States under and in pursuance of the provisions of a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and the foreign state of which the alien is a national (or, in the case of an alien who acquired the relevant nationality through a financial investment and who has not previously been granted status under this subparagraph, the foreign state of which the alien is a national and in which the alien has been domiciled for a continuous period of not less than 3 years at any point before applying for a nonimmigrant visa under this subparagraph), and the spouse and children of any such alien if accompanying or following to join such alien; (i) solely to carry on substantial trade, including trade in services or trade in technology, principally between the United States and the foreign state of which the alien is a national;»The treaty trader and investor category, and the clause inserted to stop it being bought: where the nationality was acquired through a financial investment, the applicant must also have been domiciled in that state for three continuous years. Five states of this corpus sell citizenship.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Government Publishing Office's authenticated repository. The United States Code is published here edition by edition, one HTML file per section, at an address that names the edition year - and a link service resolves a title and section number to the current edition's file.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: An edition is a snapshot: the 2024 edition states the law as of a date in 2024 and says nothing about amendments made since. The Code is itself a compilation of acts, and for titles not enacted into positive law the Statutes at Large govern where the two differ. Nothing here carries the regulations, which are in the Code of Federal Regulations, or the annual notices that fill in the numbers these sections leave open.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Which states hold a qualifying treaty is a list the State Department maintains, not something the Code carries. This record states the test and does not reproduce the list.
The employment-based immigrant preferences are a different thing entirely and are governed by the per-country ceiling recorded as a policy.
- consolidates8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(E), treaty traders and investors
GovInfo, U.S. Government Publishing Office · consolidated to 2024
About this source
The Government Publishing Office's authenticated repository. The United States Code is published here edition by edition, one HTML file per section, at an address that names the edition year - and a link service resolves a title and section number to the current edition's file.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: An edition is a snapshot: the 2024 edition states the law as of a date in 2024 and says nothing about amendments made since. The Code is itself a compilation of acts, and for titles not enacted into positive law the Statutes at Large govern where the two differ. Nothing here carries the regulations, which are in the Code of Federal Regulations, or the annual notices that fill in the numbers these sections leave open.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source