Read the general pathway comparison overview
You worked for the foreign company for years and invoiced it for your services. Whether that period counts as qualifying employment for L-1 is a documentary question, and invoices alone do not establish an employment relationship. Assemble the underlying facts once, in one accurate account, then ask how L-1 and E-2 each treat them, rather than choosing a route first and describing the past to suit it.
Show how the relationship actually worked
Collect the contracts and their scope, who directed and scheduled the work, whether you served other clients, how you were paid and taxed, whether you held a title, and whether organization charts, board minutes or internal systems record you as part of the company. L-1 requires one continuous year of qualifying employment with a qualifying organization within the relevant three-year period, subject to individual timing. A period spent as an independent contractor has to be explained with dated records rather than relabelled.
Test the second route on the same facts
Hypothetical example: a founder invoiced a foreign parent for two years, holds a minority interest, and now wants to run a U.S. operation. E-2 does not impose the L-1 qualifying foreign-employment year, although experience may help explain the proposed role; it examines treaty nationality of the individual and of the qualifying enterprise, a substantial investment that is committed and at risk, a real operating enterprise that is more than marginal, and the ability to develop and direct it. Ownership and control are fact-specific, with no universal minimum figure.
Decide the order of work and what stays open
Sequence the gathering: nationality and corporate documents first, since they may rule a route in or out; then the employment evidence; then the proposed role and premises. Keep separate the decisions that are separate — petition approval, visa issuance, admission and effective work authorization are not one step. If a spouse or children would come, note that qualifying E and L spouses are employment-authorized incident to valid status with proper I-94 evidence, while children are a distinct question.
What else is on your mind?
Does being a business owner or director qualify me for L-1A?What employment history should an L-1 transfer review cover?What makes a new-office L-1A case different?How should an owner compare L-1 and E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.