Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Explain what the enterprise actually does
Identify the enterprise’s products, commercial responsibilities, supplier arrangements and actual operations. E-2 requires a real nonmarginal business, exceeding minimal living for the investor and family or meeting the applicable significant economic contribution standard. A supplier’s business should not simply be presented as the investor’s own operation. The business plan should identify which contracts are signed, what delivery obligation the enterprise holds and how it will earn revenue after launch. Forecasts are useful only when tied to identifiable assumptions and current operating records. Hypothetical example: A commercial-kitchen grease-recovery firm has a manufacturer quotation but no customer service agreements. The investor must decide whether to secure and document real commitments before presenting the forecast as proof that the business will not be marginal.
Document the qualifying ownership and capital
Treaty nationality, at least 50% relevant national ownership of the enterprise and the applicant’s development and direction remain necessary. Substantial capital must be lawfully sourced and traced and committed at risk, without a fixed universal minimum. Canadians generally require an E visa. Examine actual working-capital, supplier and visa-contingent escrow terms; debt secured by enterprise assets is different from qualifying personal financing. A manufacturer’s total equipment value is not automatically the investor’s contribution. The source-and-path review should follow each transfer, identify the payer and explain any gift, loan or currency conversion with underlying records. Capital must be placed under binding terms that expose it to commercial risk; money that the investor may freely withdraw generally will not carry the same weight. The investor must personally lead and control the operation, so a passive supplier arrangement cannot substitute for control.
Confirm control and the business's capacity
An E-2 enterprise must be at least 50 percent owned by nationals of the treaty country, and where the owner is a company, the consular officer looks through it to the natural persons who own that company. Confirm that treaty nationals hold at least fifty percent of the U.S. enterprise and that the applicant will genuinely develop and direct it — Canadian citizenship, not Canadian residence, supplies the treaty nationality. Distribution agreements often arrive with escrow terms, refundable deposits, minimum purchase commitments and revocation clauses. Funds paid into an escrow that releases to the seller when the visa is issued and returns to the buyer if it is refused can qualify, because the commitment is irrevocable on the investor's side. Non-marginality may rest on present income or a credible capacity to contribute beyond minimal living for the family, so revenue and payroll figures matter. Loans are not prohibited, but collateral matters: funds secured against the enterprise's own assets are treated differently from a mortgage on personal property. A business whose trucks are financed and whose lease cannot be assigned is worth less than the price suggests, and the E-2 analysis looks at what the buyer will own and control after closing, not at what the seller's brochure describes.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.