IN THIS GUIDE · Use financial projections without importing another route’s numerical test
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Identify the real investment relative to the enterprise
Hypothetical example: a purchase plan shows startup spending and later operating forecasts. Review substantial lawful capital committed at risk relative to the business, with no universal fixed E-2 minimum. Distinguish actual commitment from money only projected for later use.
Read the figures in their proper period
Identify whether forecasts are monthly, annual or cumulative and which assumptions support them. The enterprise must be real and operating and nonmarginal, with capacity beyond a minimal living for investor and family or for a significant economic contribution. A headline revenue number does not establish that capacity by itself.
Preserve treaty nationality and direction
Assess applicant and enterprise treaty nationality, generally at least 50% enterprise ownership by nationals of the relevant treaty country, and actual development and direction. Financial totals do not replace the ownership and rights evidence.
Assess actual security and transaction stage
Personal-asset-secured or unsecured loans may qualify; enterprise-asset-secured debt does not qualify as invested capital. Trace lawful source and path and genuine commitment, including any potentially qualifying visa-contingent escrow. A spreadsheet total does not establish every investment condition or authorize work. 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.
Committed funds and real control, alongside the marginality question
The investment must be irrevocably committed, which is why funds sitting in the buyer's Canadian account do not count. At least 50 percent of the enterprise must be owned by nationals of the treaty country, so map the cap table, holding companies and any co-investors before assuming the structure works. E-2 review looks at the enterprise the investor will own and direct, its customers, assets and expenses, not the seller's whole history. Signed office lease with deposit paid, purchased monitoring hardware and licences, a funded U.S. business account, professional-liability insurance bound, and executed client agreements all show commitment. An agreement in which the franchisee owns the entity outright, hires and fires, sets pricing within brand limits and bears the profit or loss supports the control requirement; one where the franchisor can run the business over the owner's head does not. Ask the reviewer which listings would raise immediate concerns about ownership, marginality, or the investor's ability to develop and direct the enterprise. A loan secured by the investor's personal assets, or backed by personal liability, is treated differently from one secured by the assets of the United States enterprise being acquired or built. If the seller keeps forty per cent and the general manager's chair, write the shareholders' agreement and the buyer's job description so that hiring, pricing, bidding and capital spending sit with the buyer, and file both documents.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.