immigration visa business plan experts

immigration visa business plan experts

Strategies for Developing a Successful Business Plan for Immigration Visa Applications

1. Introduction to Immigration Visa Business Plans

Business plans are an intricate part of the business scene and are essential for start-ups and for existing businesses, whether new or mature. Professional business plans are documents to be used in support of an application for immigration visas for the investor and their families as well as to convince the host country and the citizenship and immigration service that the needs and the interests of the host country will be met. Immigration visa business plans are an innovation of services provided by companies to meet the growing needs expressed by immigration visa applicants who wish to start-up a business or who wish to invest in an existing business based on the ‘crisis and recession proof’ pattern of success.

This chapter provides an overview of the concepts of creating professional immigration visa business plans, based on theories and practices relating to regular business plans. The chapter provides specific explanatory content on how to produce such a business plan based on an organized and structured review of the relevant literature whilst it also builds on the authors’ own research and the experience enabled from the practice of developing immigration visa business plans. The content of the chapter is designed as an informative complement to existing strategies towards the creation and the design of successful and professional immigration visa business plans but can also serve as an educational aid to business angels, venture capitalists and educators or trainers involved in external auditing and evaluating immigrant visa business plans.

2. Key Components of a Business Plan for Immigration Visa Applications

Sylvia Ziegenbein

There continue to be several options for business and employment-based immigration visas (visas) available to individuals who desire to work or invest in the United States. The primary difference between these visas typically pertains to the amount of capital required and the number of jobs the visa-qualifying entity plans to create. Regardless of its level of complexity, the business plan for immigration visa applications is often called upon to “make the case” that the requirements for the relevant visa classification have been satisfied. Because a business plan is a key factor in the success (or not) of an immigration visa application, what follows is a framework for business plans that are developed for a variety of business categories of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

3. Market Research and Analysis for Immigration Visa Business Plans

When researching the client’s selected location, the analysts must examine several sources of information. Various sectors of the proposed location’s economy must be considered among the different aspects of the general market analysis. The analyst should design a survey that will help market him or her to the targeted group. This interested group may include important leaders of the specific ethnic group foundation, temporary workers known to be illegal immigrants, and community involved church members of the different religious sectors in the community. There are various published association and office listings that can be used for a mailing list. These published association and office listings will be a source of leads to the client’s selected job of interest. The clients are immigrants who want to purchase or build a business. They travel to seven to ten business broker offices per city conducting interviews to receive information from experienced business owners and salespersons. They obtain the business purchase price and lease conditions, property, knowledge of immigrants recommended locations, and the length of time the service has been available. In the process, they learn about the cities where the business is located, day-care facilities, and the school system. Rents listed are determined to be affordable for family living and business growth.

Marketers dealing with minority groups must focus on several variables concerning such groups as a target market. These minority groups have abilities that enable them today to create home-based and traditional business ventures. They arrive in the United States today from different countries with diverse skills. The key for successful future economic development will be targeting the particular strengths of individual minority groups. There are other Hispanic business owners who are already encouraged customers. They frequent restaurants and stores owned by Mexicans, as well as local movie houses located in the selected inner-city location. Different types of fast-food businesses reflect growth and potential for the marketplace. Large fast-food franchises include Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, and Little Caesar’s. They used commercial buildings located on busy, high-traffic streets. These stores could be developed with approximately twenty thousand dollars of leasehold improvements and a new sign. Management teams own these types of food service corporations. Their headquarters are close to San Diego and they have the ability to direct, oversee, and periodically check the Mexican business owner.

4. Financial Projections and Investment Strategies for Immigration Visa Business Plans

This section will present the information that should be included in an immigration business plan with regard to the financial and investment strategies. Financial projections are an essential part of the business plan, although it is often the most challenging area for applicants. Investors want to be sure that the business they will finance will be profitable and capable of sustaining itself throughout the period of the initial investment.

There are some financial concepts which are common in business plans. These include pro forma financial statements such as profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, and monthly operating budgets. A pro forma balance sheet must support such detail, going into each account and being specifically tailored for each element, not just an estimate.

Other key components include starting balances, an opening day balance sheet, and other financial requirements or supporting agreements such as collateral and equipment financing statement, franchise or management agreements, letters of intent, and summaries of any market research completed.

Classification of the financial projections is usually divided into several key areas, including pricing and cost decisions, sales forecasting, and inclusion of plus reports in documents. Pricing decisions and cost contain key pricing concepts, competitive sensitivity, marginal and absorption cost, and scale of production. Factors to include in sales forecasting are detailed separately from models and assumptions against competing data.

Many applicants make common errors of omission in business planning. Since most applicants do not know how to hypothesize sales and show cash-on-cash return, the plan will not convince the adjudicator of the adequacy of business planning. All applicants with immigration visa business plans have to be fundamentally different in approach because each of them represents creations of one customer’s financial condition, criteria, and strategic plans.

Markets being capital-driven, initial priorities and use of investment capital, as already defined, must be established and related to mission and goals in collaboration with the market. The business development project we are pitching should be made uniquely rational and believable with a tightly integrated business case to support the initial investment and the cost of development and long-range planning, which should minimally include normal, expected future maintenance and reinvestment.

The customer—the immigrant—for the business planning really enjoys significant competitive advantages in investment capital. Business development projects demand and richly deserve much more than just money. All capital-generated projects must meet broad business and organizational investment objectives, none of which are very easy to satisfy separately, let alone simultaneously.

In regard to financial projections for the business plan, the pro forma financial forecasts must address five fundamental relevance criteria of comprehensive business planning and economic development. Most relevant materials can be adjusted to accommodate these criteria. Since we’re so good at it, we should probably list the five or six things a pro forma forecast should be and capture them as key attributes of a business-financial model, then capture them in a business plan outline. Only if we are able to do this, and to then create a believable plan, will we be able to turn city planners into regional economic development organizations who do our homework for us in collaboration with the customer, rather than badgering guys from everywhere else for demographic market data to prove business to a bunch of Ph.D.’s.

Having a decently-tailored business plan is a sign of a real commitment. While this may be seen as an unfair assessment at first encounter by some persons, this is because many competitors appear to be deeply involved in their strategic plan, which is also provided as part of their application. Our concept selection criteria require us to make the best out of opportunities others would pass up, and that generally involves selecting locations where we have a definable and unique advantage.

5. Best Practices and Tips for Creating a Compelling Business Plan for Immigration Visa Applications

Once the specific steps for conducting market and financial analyses are completed, applicants may use different strategic business planning approaches to create a compelling business plan. The business plan is an excellent marketing and educational tool that provides the adjudicating officer with a comprehensive overview of the intended business opportunity, as well as other aspects related to the company’s management and organizational structure. The following section provides a step-by-step methodology for creating a business plan for E-2, L-1, and EB-5 visas.

5.1. Objectives Creating and submitting a well-prepared business plan provides applicants with at least two significant benefits. First, the business plan allows applicants to present their business idea and strategic vision in a coherent, comprehensive, and clear format. Detailed information about the intended business opportunity is supported by quantitative analysis and subject to applicants’ scrutiny and evaluation. This helps applicants understand how realistic their business idea is and if they should proceed with their immigration application based on their business plan’s contents. Typically, applicants are well aware of the immigration business plan’s key role in the U.S. visa adjudication process. However, through discussions of the critical business issues, applicants can better justify their plan of launching their innovative and compelling businesses. In addition to being a necessary requirement in the U.S. immigration process, the strategic business planning exercise also serves as a critical planning tool for applicants.