Assess the genuine contract terms and the enterprise’s actual or supported prospective economic capacity.
Read beyond the headline contract value
Identify costs, committed work and realistic assumptions. Nonmarginality requires more than minimal investor-family support or the applicable significant economic contribution; neither one customer nor a large printed amount automatically resolves it.
Read the customer agreement alongside the full operating plan. Confirm what work is guaranteed, cancellation rights, payment milestones, delivery costs, staffing needs, and whether the forecast survives a delay or nonrenewal. Nonmarginality is judged from the real enterprise and its present or credible future economic capacity, not the contract’s headline value alone. The investor also needs treaty-country nationality, qualifying enterprise nationality, and the ability to develop and direct, ordinarily shown by owning at least half or holding operational control. Capital must be lawfully sourced, substantial in relation to the business, irrevocably committed, and genuinely at risk in a real operating venture. E-2 offers no direct green-card path. A common mistake is projecting the maximum possible customer revenue while omitting the conditions and expenses that determine whether the business can do more than support the investor’s household.
Hypothetical example: A custom-cabinetry distributor from Sainte-Rose-du-Nord signs one conditional supply agreement for its proposed enterprise. The investor models confirmed orders, cancellation exposure, installation costs, and additional sales efforts, then links those figures to committed capital and operational control. The contract supports the nonmarginality analysis but does not decide it automatically.