Florida Mortgages

Florida E2 Visa Information

Shani Parkin of the Pegasus Group

Visas Let British Pursue Central Florida Dreams

By Kelly Griffith—Sentinel Staff Writer Posted April 22, 2005

If the guy running your favorite barbecue spot sounds more like Prince Charles than a Florida Cracker, don't be surprised. And if your plumber says your bathroom needs a new loo, don't fret.

Record numbers of British citizens are leaving their homeland, and many are coming to America in one of the newest trends in immigration: capitalizing on an obscure visa allowed for small-business owners in the United States. The destination for many: Central Florida.

If a person has at least $100,000 to invest in a viable business in the United States, he or she may qualify for a renewable E-2 visa and be allowed to stay indefinitely as long as the business remains profitable and the visa is renewed every few years.

The number of Britons and Irish receiving the visas jumped 58 percent in the past two years -- five times the growth rate of the rest of the 72 countries whose citizens can qualify. The British have a lucrative pound-to-dollar exchange rate in their favor, allowing even middle-class families to cash in their homes and make the move toward business ownership in America.

But the system is rife with fraud, some experts say. Phantom companies are sometimes set up on paper and sold to those wanting a legal ticket into the United States. Fraud can make victims of law-abiding British who think they are buying something they aren't or could result from people working in concert in both countries to cheat the system, they say.

And for those who receive the visas legally and operate their businesses honestly, there is little oversight should their businesses fail and they fall out of compliance.

"There are always scams going on," said Shani Parkin, vice president of the Pegasus Group. The Kissimmee consultant helps Britons locate and buy businesses in this country. Her company employs a certified public accountant to review all documents, and she urges clients to hire an immigration lawyer and an accountant.

"You want to be sure what you are buying on paper really exists," she said. "Every day, we hear these horror stories."

Dreams of a Better Life

It was the "what-ifs" that seized Karen Adul's imagination: "What if we could have a better life? What if we moved to America?"

She and her husband, Darren, both 30, had spent the past several years in banking in the United Kingdom, rising through the ranks to management levels earning a combined $130,000. Their jobs, though, had grown stale. And their homeland wasn't what it used to be.

Everything there was so expensive -- it took $80 to gas up the Volkswagen Jetta. The state of the country worried them. The weather, often dreary, depressed them.

So earlier this year, the Aduls joined thousands of other British -- most older than them -- in leaving their country with dreams of a better life as entrepreneurs in America. They bought a Winter Park plumbing company.

They joined more than 124,000 people now living in the United States on the E-2 visas. Under current law, there is no cap on the number that can be issued.

In 2004, 2,966 people coming to the United States from Britain and Northern Ireland were issued E-2 visas. That represents about a 30 percent increase from 2,266 in 2003 and about a 58 percent increase from the 1,876 issued in 2002. Thousands more were issued for people from other countries.

Hundreds, federal officials say, are making their way to Central Florida, an area that looks appealing to many because of rapid growth and, in the Aduls' case, an established stream of Britons making the same move.

But some, like the Aduls, find themselves struggling as first-time business owners in an industry they knew almost nothing about and with customers who still are getting used to new owners.

"It's so overwhelming," said Adul, who considered everything from a furniture store to a restaurant before buying A Pro Plumb, the plumbing company.

The Aduls, for instance, have used the savings they gained from the $450,000 sale of their 1,400-square-foot home in the United Kingdom to make payroll, putting a squeeze on finances and leaving them in an Oviedo apartment instead of a home with a yard like they left behind.

"If I'd known I'd be this homesick, I might have thought twice," Adul said.

More British Than Ever

British citizens leave home more now than they ever have. In 2001, 28,000 Britons left the country heading to the United States. By 2002, that jumped to 37,000 -- about a 32 percent increase, according to the Office of National Statistics in London.

A typical scenario might start with a phone call to a consultant such as Parkin from a British couple interested in moving to America.

After explaining the complicated and slow visa process, which can take several months, Parkin's company would present a list of potential businesses for sale.

Parkin acknowledges that fraud is prevalent and said immigration and business experts need to help protect people from scam artists.

"If anyone asks for money up front or a nonrefundable deposit, that's a huge red flag," Parkin said.

Sometimes, experts said, businesses here may be misrepresented in the sale and not live up to what was promised, or sellers may breach the spirit of a no-compete clause by setting up shop around the corner in a nearly identical business with a close relative as owner.

"When things like this happen, it's devastating because the business will fail," said Hugh Hunter, vice consul at the British Consulate in Orlando, which helps Britons resolve problems while in this country. "There's not much we can do. It's really buyer beware."

Central Florida is particularly alluring because many of those who make the move vacationed here in the past.

For instance, in northeast Polk County near where Orange, Osceola and Lake counties meet, more than 3,300 homes zoned for short-term rentals are owned by people from the United Kingdom, who are often legally limited in the number of weeks they can live here.

Those homes are often rented to others from the British Isles, accounting for thousands of the nearly 3 million British who visit America each year.

Neil and Sue Wicks, two Britons who had previously vacationed here, now await word after applying for E-2 visas in November. They are being extra cautious about the purchase of a property-management company.

They hired Parkin to assist and are preparing financially in case things don't work out.

"We are being very cautious," Sue Wicks said. "We are aware things can go wrong in the business and are setting aside money in case of that eventuality, or else we could wind up homeless and virtually penniless."

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