Until recently, the 21st century has been a period of increasing global mobility and travel. Airplane travel, once a rare luxury of the privileged or high-powered executives, has become commonplace and multinational companies have operations, employees and financial interests spread across the globe, requiring the daily transfer of people internationally. All of this changed in spring 2020 when the COVID pandemic significantly curtailed global travel unlike any other time in our history. This sudden and drastic decrease in travel created challenges for businesses in moving their employees, executives and contractors around the world. These restrictions even affect U.S. citizens, as countries shut their borders to U.S. citizens because of COVID infection rates here.

In the United States, the coronavirus-related impediments to business immigration have been amplified by recent presidential proclamations, purportedly enacted to protect jobs in the face of the pandemic. Until Dec. 31, U.S. entry is barred for H-1B, H-2B, L-1, and certain J-1 nonimmigrants if they were outside the United States on the effective date of the proclamation and did not hold a nonimmigrant visa in one of the relevant categories at the time, among other requirements. Immigrants are similarly barred from entering the United States. Although there are exceptions for both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, mainly foreign nationals working in the U.S. national interest and immediate family of U.S. citizens, the viable options for foreign nationals are largely limited to investment visas; E visas for foreign nationals from certain treaty countries and EB-5 visas for immigrant entrepreneurs investing in a U.S. business and creating jobs for U.S. workers.