Starting a Franchise for EB-2 National Interest Waivers
Kyle Huffman • November 18, 2021
Why franchising your business can increase your chances of success in applying for a National Interest Waiver.
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The National Interest Waiver is a complex employment-based immigration application with many benefits. One of the key benefits to the National Interest Waiver is that an approval on this type of case can lead directly to a green card. In order to file a National Interest Waiver application, one must have a proposed endeavor underlying the application, and the applicant must be able to show that the proposed endeavor will have both substantial merit and national importance to the United States if the case is to be approved. This article sum marizes why franchising your company as the proposed endeavor can help to show the substantial merit and national importance of the proposed endeavor.
What is a franchise?
A franchise is a business arrangement where the organization (the franchisor) sells a license to an investor to use the particular brand. Subway, McDonald’s, and 7-Eleven are all common examples of franchise businesses. The franchisor typically has a significant amount of control over the investor (also known as the franchisee). The franchisee is able to benefit from the brand recognition of their franchise, as well as the policies and procedures, marketing efforts, as well as supply and distribution chains set up by the franchisor.
Advantages of creating a franchise for the EB-2 National Interest Waiver.
Every National Interest Waiver Application requires the applicant to have a ‘proposed endeavor’ underlying their application. For many, starting a new company in the United States is an excellent proposed endeavor to base the NIW application on. When applying for a national interest waiver, one of the required categories of evidence that the applicant has to prove is whether the proposed endeavor has substantial merit and national importance. USCIS will look at a number of factors when deciding if a proposed endeavor has national importance, but two of the most important factors they look at are:
- Whether the proposed endeavor has significant potential to employ U.S. workers, both directly and indirectly.
- The likelihood for the proposed endeavor to have substantial positive economic effects, particularly in economically depressed areas.
Franchising your business can have clear benefits helping to show why the proposed endeavor will significantly increase job creation, as well as creating substantial positive economic effects.
To show the significant potential to create employment for U.S. workers, organizing the business as a franchise has clear implications on the potential to create jobs. For the franchisor, there will need to be some direct jobs created. These jobs can include jobs that are common to many businesses, including receptionist staff, human resources, sales professionals, and any other position required to run the operation. But the true potential to highlight job creation comes from the indirect employment created by a franchise. For example, if the franchise is a restaurant or other food service establishment, each franchisee that opens up their own store will need to hire their own staff to run the business. That means cashiers, servers, cooks, and more will need to be hired at every single franchise location that is opened up. If it takes 5-10 employees to operate a single franchise location, then just 10 franchises will create 50-100 jobs for U.S. workers, which shows the massive potential for job creation that comes from franchising.
In addition, the franchises can be opened in cities across the United States, increasing the national scope of the proposed endeavor, while simultaneously increasing the likelihood that an economically beneficial small business (the franchisee) will open in an economically depressed area of the United States. By organizing the business as a franchise, it not only opens the doors for many people hoping to invest in opening up their own business, but it creates the potential for small business creation nationwide.
If you are a business owner, or seeking to become a business owner, and use that business as the proposed endeavor underlying your EB-2 National Interest Waiver application, consider franchising your business to improve your chances of success.
If you have any questions about what this means for you, please schedule a consultation with one of our experienced attorneys.
We look forward to working with you.
This blog is not intended to be legal advice and nothing here should be construed as establishing an attorney client relationship. Please schedule a consultation with an immigration attorney before acting on any information read here.
Kyle Huffman
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