IN THIS GUIDE · Read an acquisition’s financing terms before counting the purchase price as investment
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Identify what the buyer actually commits
Hypothetical example: a purchase combines the buyer’s funds and a seller-financed balance. Record actual amounts paid, obligations and conditions. Do not treat the entire price as already committed qualifying cash without examining the financing.
Read the security behind borrowed funds
Identify the borrower, creditor and collateral. Debt secured by enterprise assets is not qualifying investment capital. Personally secured or unsecured loans may require a different assessment, including lawful source and path; seller financing is not a label that resolves those questions. The enterprise-asset exclusion also applies when the loan has mixed enterprise and personal collateral.
Assess the enterprise and investor together
The principal requires treaty nationality, development and direction, and generally at least 50% relevant treaty-national enterprise ownership. Capital must be substantial, lawful, at risk and sufficiently committed to a real nonmarginal enterprise. There is no universal E-2 minimum.
Review genuine transaction conditions
Properly structured visa-contingent escrow may be relevant; a mere intention to buy or money held idle is not automatically investment. Explain what is binding, what can be refunded and what remains proposed without assuming every transaction needs unconditional closing before review.
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.
Confirm the investment is substantial and irrevocably committed
Substantiality is judged in proportion to the enterprise, and no universal dollar minimum exists, so the honest starting point is what capital is genuinely available and lawfully sourced. The investor and the ownership must be Canadian to the extent of the treaty requirement, which 60% Canadian ownership satisfies since the enterprise is treated as having the nationality of its majority owners. Present the contracts, the payroll history and a projection that shows capacity to hire or generate income beyond a minimal living for the investor. The company may rely on outside suppliers without becoming passive, but the investor must genuinely develop and direct the enterprise. The investment must be substantial in relation to the total cost of the enterprise, so the meaningful figure is the ratio between what has been committed and what this particular business costs, not the size of the deposit. An escrow that releases to the seller upon visa issuance, and returns to the buyer only if the visa is refused, is the accepted way to protect the buyer while still showing commitment. Before relying on a forecast, identify the decision it must support: whether the capital is committed beyond the investor’s unilateral reach and exposed to the enterprise’s risk of loss, and whether the operation may avoid marginality. The investment must be irrevocably committed, at risk, and placed in an enterprise that is not marginal; a refundable arrangement may require more explanation than a payment exposed to the business's success or failure.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.