IN THIS GUIDE · Define whether the investment funds an existing operation or an expansion
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Separate present operations from expansion
Hypothetical example: a business has current revenue and proposes another location. Identify which enterprise owns the assets, which costs are committed and which activities remain planned. Do not attribute an unrelated company’s results to the proposed investment.
Reconcile capital and the business cost
Substantiality concerns the cost and nature of the actual enterprise; there is no universal fixed E-2 minimum. Show lawful source and path, capital at risk and sufficient commitment. Funds merely set aside for possible future spending do not automatically count as invested.
Preserve nationality and direction
The investor needs treaty nationality and development and direction, with generally at least half the enterprise owned by nationals of the relevant treaty country. A lease or brand licence does not by itself establish those conditions. Explain actual ownership and decision authority.
Explain capacity and financing realistically
Assess a real nonmarginal enterprise, with capacity beyond minimal living for the investor and family or a significant economic contribution. Review financing security: enterprise-secured debt is not qualifying capital, while personally secured or unsecured loans require their own assessment. Genuine visa-contingent escrow can be relevant. The enterprise-asset exclusion also applies when the loan has mixed enterprise and personal collateral.
Explain enterprise nationality and nonmarginality precisely
The enterprise generally must be at least 50% owned by nationals of the relevant treaty country; the applicant’s passport alone does not establish enterprise nationality. Nonmarginality includes capacity to provide more than a minimal living for the investor and family, with the alternative of a significant economic contribution. Apply those conditions to the real operating proposal rather than importing EB-5’s capital amounts or ten-job rule into E-2. Projected future capacity should generally be attainable within five years of normal business activity. Development and direction may be shown by at least 50% ownership or operational control through a managerial position or another corporate device. The applicant must intend to depart when E status ends.
Trace the investor’s nationality, capital and control
Substantiality is judged in proportion to the cost of the business: a purchase of the going concern, its furniture, systems and working capital should bring the committed amount close to the total. Debt secured by the assets of the business being purchased raises different questions from an obligation backed by the buyer's own assets or personal guarantee. The capital has to be irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk, substantial in relation to the total cost of the enterprise, and lawfully sourced with a documented path. A reviewer asks who borrowed, who is liable, what secured the borrowing, and which charges belonged to the enterprise rather than the household. Treaty nationality: whose passports, and does the ownership meet the applicable at-least-fifty-percent threshold. 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. A lawful Canadian permanent resident who is not a Canadian national does not acquire treaty nationality through residence, and an ownership structure can affect the enterprise's nationality as well as the individual's eligibility. Trace each transfer from the investor to the enterprise, noting any escrow release, seller financing, or refund right that changes the risk analysis.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.