Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Support the forecast instead of selecting a convenient headcount
E-2 requires a real nonmarginal enterprise: capacity beyond a minimal living for the investor and family, or the applicable significant economic contribution standard. Explain why staffing changes over time and how the business will operate beyond its opening period. There is no universal ten-job E-2 threshold, but that does not make every unsupported revenue forecast sufficient. Test the forecast against operating documents rather than a hoped-for opening month. Customer assumptions, pricing, recurring expenses, staffing plan and break-even schedule should show why the enterprise is more than a means of supporting one household. The reader must decide whether the forecast has a reasonable factual basis and whether the business can grow beyond an initial lean period. A temporary owner-operated launch is not automatically disqualifying, but unsupported future hiring or revenue figures may fail to resolve the nonmarginality question.
Connect the operating plan with qualifying investment
The applicant needs treaty nationality, development and direction, and at least 50% relevant treaty-national ownership of the enterprise. Substantial at-risk capital must have lawful source and path, with no fixed minimum. Canadians generally need an E visa. Working capital and visa-contingent escrow require assessment of their real commitments; debt secured by enterprise assets differs from qualifying personal borrowing. Projected payroll is not automatically money already invested. Sequence ownership and spending evidence carefully: confirm treaty nationality, document qualifying ownership, trace funds, then show the investor’s role in directing and developing the operation. Capital must be committed so that its loss is possible if the business does not succeed; money left freely withdrawable ordinarily needs further analysis. The enterprise must be real and operating, and it cannot be marginal. The decision-maker should also distinguish a loan secured personally from financing secured by the enterprise’s own assets, because the security arrangement can affect whether the funds qualify.
Substantiality is proportional, not a fixed number
At least 50 percent of the enterprise must be owned by nationals of the treaty country, so map the cap table, holding companies and any co-investors before assuming the structure works. Passive interests are structured so the holder cannot direct, which is exactly what makes them unsuitable as the qualifying enterprise. Owning the company does not by itself permit the investor to perform work in the United States; the E-2 role is to develop and direct the enterprise, and lawful status governs what any person may do. Substantiality is proportional: the amount is weighed against the total cost of purchasing an established enterprise of that kind, and it must be large enough to make it likely that the investor will successfully develop and direct the business. The accepted structure is an escrow that releases to the seller only upon issuance of the E-2 visa and returns to the buyer only if it is refused. The requirement is that the investor develop and direct the enterprise, which is shown through identifiable decisions, each traceable to a corporate record: who signs supply contracts, who sets pricing, who hires and dismisses, who holds the bank mandate.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.