IN THIS GUIDE · Verify a locally known business proposal with the same documents a stranger would need
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Request the formation and ownership records directly
Hypothetical example: a Selkirk resident is offered a stake in a U.S. business known to personal contacts. Obtain the actual formation, ownership and financial records. The enterprise generally must be at least 50% owned by nationals of the relevant treaty country; document actual development-and-direction rights and the investor’s intent to depart when E status ends.
Trace the investor's funds independently of the seller's assurances
Build the dated record of the funds' lawful source and path to the investment using the investor's own records, rather than accepting a seller's or broker's description of how the deal is typically financed. Identify any loan and whether it is secured by the business's own assets. Debt secured by enterprise assets does not count as qualifying E-2 capital; assess other borrowing by actual liability and security. Preserve the real commitment and risk terms. 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.
Read the actual purchase and any financing terms
Review the specific purchase agreement, any escrow arrangement, and financing conditions in full, rather than relying on a general understanding of how the sale is expected to work. Confirm what triggers payment, release, or cancellation before treating any term as settled.
Assess the enterprise's real financial capacity
Assess the actual U.S. enterprise’s cost and substantiality without a universal dollar minimum. Non-marginality concerns capacity beyond a minimal living for the investor and family or a significant economic contribution. Use existing results and supported projections; seller reputation does not establish those conditions. 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
Substantial capital must be irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk relative to the total cost of the enterprise, and that showing is separate from the sales pipeline. E-2 can apply to an eligible treaty national who is developing and directing a real, operating U.S. enterprise through a substantial investment. The enterprise can sponsor certain employees who hold the same treaty nationality as the enterprise's owners, where the role is executive or supervisory or involves skills essential to the operation. The investor must own at least fifty percent or otherwise exercise operational control sufficient to develop and direct the business. The test compares the amount invested with the total cost of purchasing or establishing the enterprise; for an operating nursery with land, greenhouses, stock and equipment, the investor is expected to have put in a high proportion of the price. Escrow arrangements are used routinely and have to be drafted carefully, because money returnable at the buyer's discretion has not been committed at all. The operating plan should identify customers, pricing, staffing, premises, licences, and the investor's decision-making role. Reconcile projections to seller tax returns, reservations, payroll, and seasonality; a growth forecast is persuasive only when the assumptions can be checked.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.