Under EB-1C, if I buy a U.S. company, can I serve as CEO and count that time as qualifying experience?

The EB-1C is the employment-based green card category designed for managers and executives transferred from a foreign company to a related entity in the United States. Its core logic is continuity: you held a leadership role abroad, within an organization that has a qualifying corporate relationship (parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate) with the U.S. company that will petition on your behalf.

For that reason, simply purchasing a U.S. company and stepping in as CEO does not, by itself, create the experience that EB-1C recognizes. What matters is the leadership tenure accumulated abroad, inside a structure already connected to the U.S. entity. If the acquisition results in a business that is entirely your own, with no prior corporate link to the foreign organization where you previously worked, the period as CEO following the purchase tends not to be accepted as qualifying experience.

Factors that typically carry weight in the analysis:

• Having held a managerial or executive role abroad before the transfer.
• The existence of a qualifying corporate relationship between the foreign and U.S. entities.
• Supporting everything with formal and consistent corporate documentation.

Because each business structure is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, it is worth confirming the current requirements with USCIS and reviewing your specific situation with a qualified specialist before filing the petition.

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Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

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As a journalist and lead editor at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps ensure that immigration topics are covered in a clear, trustworthy, and easy-to-understand way. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.