Jim Costa: “Soon, the Portuguese Caucus will be reintroducing legislation that is important for not only the United States, but for…”

“Soon, the Portuguese Caucus will be reintroducing legislation that is important for not only the United States, but for our ally Portugal. We will be introducing bipartisan legislation that will allow citizens of Portugal to be eligible for what is called the E-1 treaty trader visa and the E-2 treaty investors visa. Portugal is one of the United States' oldest allies and a close economic partner. The United States became Portugal's largest trading partner outside the European Union in 2015. Bilateral trade reached $4.2 billion in 2015, a 30 percent increase from 5 years ago. However, because Portugal did not have a bilateral investor treaty with the United States before joining the European Union, they are one of only five European Union countries whose citizens are not eligible for the E-1 and E-2 visas. This is long overdue. It is good for the United States; it is good for Portugal; and it is good for increased economic activity between both countries. It is bipartisan. Hopefully, this year, we will be successful in implementing these E-1 and E-2 treaty investor visas. 70th Anniversary of North Atlantic Treaty Organization”