Read the general investor planning overview
A Rivière-Éternité investor should connect the franchise package with the applicant’s own US enterprise and investment account. A useful first review produces a payment-by-payment chart showing the source account, recipient, contract clause, refund condition and business purpose of each dollar. Hypothetical example: A bicycle-frame repair business has paid for diagnostic equipment but left the lease deposit revocable until visa issuance. The investor must decide whether the remaining commitment needs to be placed under commercially real terms before claiming that the investment is substantial and exposed to business risk.
Identify what each component really provides
Separate trademark access, training, goods and other actual commitments where the documents support those distinctions. Do not invent an allocation within a bundled fee or present all forecast royalties as already invested. A franchisor’s training schedule and brand success do not establish the applicant’s operating results. Read the asset-purchase agreement, lease, invoices, escrow agreement and bank records together. That comparison distinguishes money paid for equipment or inventory from a deposit that can be freely reclaimed. If a single franchise fee covers several items, describe only the allocation the documents support. The applicant must decide whether the paperwork shows an operating enterprise with committed resources, rather than a plan that can be abandoned without meaningful loss. A projection is useful for explaining the model, but it is not proof that a payment has been made.
Apply the actual treaty-investor standards
E-2 requires qualifying nationality, at least 50% relevant national enterprise ownership, development and direction and substantial lawful at-risk capital, with no universal fixed minimum. A genuine, non-marginal enterprise is required, measured by the more-than-minimal-living test or, where it applies, the significant-economic-contribution standard. Working capital and visa-contingent escrow need genuine-term review; enterprise-secured borrowing differs from qualifying personal financing. Confirm treaty nationality and relevant ownership before treating business-control language as enough. The investor must be able to develop and direct the enterprise, and the funds must be irrevocably committed and at risk in a real, operating business that is not marginal. There is no universal dollar threshold; the amount is assessed in relation to the enterprise. The decision is whether the evidence supports this particular business now, including lawful source and path, instead of borrowing the valuation or commercial history of the franchisor.
What else is on your mind?
Is there one minimum investment that guarantees E-2 eligibility?Is holding money or owning an asset enough for E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.