IN THIS GUIDE · Trace historical funds into the actual investment proposal
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Connect the prior event with the present funds
Hypothetical example: an applicant sold a business and later plans a U.S. acquisition. Provide the genuine sale and subsequent transaction records. A historical sale agreement may help explain source without establishing the current balance, path or capital commitment.
Assess the actual commitment and security
E-2 needs substantial lawful capital committed and at risk relative to the enterprise, with no universal fixed minimum. Identify current financing and collateral. Personal-asset-secured or unsecured loans may qualify; enterprise-asset-secured debt does not qualify as invested capital. Earlier financing terms should not be assumed to describe a new loan. Debt secured partly by enterprise assets is excluded even when personal assets are also pledged; personal-only secured or unsecured borrowing may qualify on its actual terms.
Use current ownership and enterprise evidence
Assess treaty nationality of applicant and enterprise, generally at least 50% ownership by nationals of the relevant treaty country, and the investor’s development and direction of the business. The enterprise must be real and operating and nonmarginal, with capacity beyond a minimal living for the investor and family or for a significant economic contribution. Past success does not establish every present condition.
Describe the genuine stage and changed assumptions
Compare historical forecasts with actual operations and the current proposal. A qualifying visa-contingent escrow may matter, but its terms require assessment. Do not present an old business plan as current evidence without identifying changes or treat an earlier investment approval as present work permission.
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. The investor must also intend to depart when E status ends; business ownership does not replace that individual requirement. If relying on future capacity, it should generally be realizable within five years after normal business activity begins.
Committed funds and real control, alongside the marginality question
Substantiality is proportional: the amount invested is compared with the total cost of buying this dealership, and a purchase of all the shares at fair value for a business with inventory, a building lease, and a service shop will ordinarily be substantial. Funds sitting in an escrow account that returns to the buyer if the deal fails are not at risk in the sense the regulation intends. Gather the agreements that show the applicant will actually develop and direct the business, including any rights retained by a seller, co-investor or lender that could limit that control. The investor must develop and direct it, which ordinarily means at least fifty percent ownership or operational control through a managerial position. Use operating documents to test marginality: existing contracts, staffing assumptions, pricing, licences and a forecast tied to known demand. Develop and direct is assessed on what the investor actually controls and decides, and a plan showing the investor abroad for most of the year while a manager runs the enterprise raises that question directly. E-2 requires capital already committed irrevocably and exposed to loss in a real enterprise that is not marginal.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.