Starting a Foreign Business Series – Part 3
Hello fellow entrepreneurs!
Last week, I wrote about packing up my life and moving to Europe to launch a new business partnership with a major university. This week I’ll continue my story and write about visa & immigration issues. Since this isn’t a particularly exciting topic, I’ll try to keep it short.
I can’t overstate the importance of finding good lawyers in a foreign country. It’s absolutely critical that they are able to clearly explain the process to obtain both resident and work visa’s, including all the related deadlines. You need to put those deadlines in your calendar, with lots of alerts, so you can follow up with the relevant parties to keep things on track. I took the opposite approach. I trusted that we hired good immigration lawyers and left it in their capable hands while I focused on my project. That was an oversight that would cost me and my family a lot. Due to a series of unfortunate events, my work visa was approved, but my resident visa was not. That meant I could work in the country, but I couldn’t be in the country once my 90 day temporary visa expired. The government had dragged their heels on the work visa, which was required for the residence visa, causing the residence one to be submitted late, which was then denied. This was not the lawyers fault, since it was out of their control, but I can’t help but think that this situation may have been prevented by a more experienced firm with the right government contacts. Needless to say, we ended up having to abruptly leave the country after only 5 months, in the middle of a major project. Disruptive doesn’t even begin to describe the situation. We had overstayed our temporary visa which caused additional complications. It turns out you can be fined or detained for trying to leave a country when the government wants you to get out. Totally makes sense right? We had quite the adventure passing through border control. Bribes, last minute phone calls, angry border guards, a great movie in the making!
To avoid situations like this, do your research before hiring a law firm. Ask them to outline the whole process, including problem areas. Ask for references. Ask them what their backup plan is if something goes wrong. Ask them for clearly defined due dates. Do your due diligence and make good choices! It just might give you a fighting chance to succeed.
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Until next time,
Ernst Bergen
B.Sc. Mech. Eng.