IN THIS GUIDE · Keep ownership, financing and operations within the same investment option
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Describe the genuine rights in each business
Hypothetical example: one purchase offers stronger voting rights while another gives the seller continuing control. Identify the actual enterprise and how the applicant will develop and direct it. Assess qualifying treaty nationality of applicant and enterprise, generally at least 50% enterprise ownership by nationals of the relevant treaty country.
Trace capital for the actual transaction
Review substantial lawful capital committed at risk relative to each enterprise, without a universal fixed minimum. Identify source, path and real commitment. Funds available for mutually exclusive purchases should not be presented as already committed to both.
Assess financing and operating capacity together
Personal-asset-secured or unsecured loans may qualify; enterprise-asset-secured debt does not qualify as invested capital. Review the actual security for each option. 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. 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.
Record each option’s conditions accurately
Identify what is agreed, projected or unresolved. A qualifying visa-contingent escrow may matter, but one transaction’s terms do not determine another’s. Assess the real proposal before relying on closing or work-start expectations.
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.
Confirm the investment is substantial and irrevocably committed
The investment must be irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk, and it must be substantial in relation to the cost of the enterprise being purchased or established. A franchise purchase may require the franchisor to approve the buyer, transfer terms and management arrangement. The purchase agreement should place the price in escrow, release it to the seller on E-2 approval and licence issuance, and bind the buyer to close once both occur. Development and direction is ordinarily shown by ownership of at least half the enterprise, or by operational control demonstrated through a managerial position or another corporate device. A franchise can still leave the franchisee developing and directing a business, since ownership of the enterprise and responsibility for its operation usually remain with the franchisee, but the agreement is where that is established. A marginal enterprise is one that exists mainly to support the investor and family; existing staff and growth plans are the evidence against that conclusion. Nonmarginality is forward-looking as well as present-focused, so explain credible growth, employment, revenue, and household-support assumptions rather than offering a bare statement that the business will expand. Trace every item from its current owner to the proposed U.S. enterprise, including releases required by a lender.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.