Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Identify exactly what the buyer acquires
Read the software, customer and operating agreements. Distinguish permission to use a product from ownership or authority over the proposed enterprise. A domain registration or licence invoice does not alone establish the right to conduct all activities described in the business plan. Preserve the actual rights and effective dates.
Show the real commercial operation
Explain services, customers, delivery arrangements and the resources needed to operate. E-2 requires a real commercial enterprise that is nonmarginal under the applicable standard, including more than a minimal living for the investor and family or significant economic contribution. Do not assume either that a digital business is automatically excluded or that a website alone proves the operating requirements. When relying on future capacity, it should generally be achievable within five years after normal business activity begins.
Trace the investor’s nationality, capital and control
The applicant needs qualifying treaty nationality and the enterprise generally needs at least 50% treaty-country ownership. Show lawful substantial investment committed at risk and the ability to develop and direct the enterprise. There is no universal minimum dollar amount. Examine actual commitments and refund terms; borrowed funds secured by enterprise assets do not qualify as investor capital on that basis. Development and direction can be established by at least 50% ownership or actual operational control through a managerial position or another corporate device. Borrowing secured only by personal assets, or unsecured personal borrowing, may qualify under the other investment conditions; debt secured by enterprise assets is excluded even when personal assets also secure it.
Use the classification for its actual purpose
E-2 is temporary and the applicant must intend to depart when E status ends. Acquiring software does not grant U.S. work permission or permanent residence. A qualifying E spouse may work incident to valid status with appropriate evidence; eligible unmarried children under 21 do not receive that spouse authorization. Assess the real family records rather than treating business access credentials as immigration permission.
Do not confuse purchase price with committed capital
Substantiality is judged in proportion to the cost of acquiring or establishing this particular enterprise, not against a fixed number, so the purchase price and asset base matter more than any general figure. A scaffolding services company whose profit covers only the investor's household, with no other employees and no documented growth plan, looks on paper like exactly the kind of marginal enterprise the requirement exists to screen out. The standard structure for a purchase is a signed stock or asset purchase agreement, with the purchase price deposited in escrow to be released to the seller on visa approval and returned to the buyer only if the visa is refused. The capital must be irrevocably committed to the enterprise and genuinely exposed to loss; a revocable promise or money still freely available for another use does not settle that issue. Maintenance contracts that can be cancelled on notice when the company changes hands are worth less than the seller's revenue summary suggests, and the projections that support the enterprise being more than marginal depend on them. Proceeds from the equipment auction should therefore move into the transaction, into purchased assets, or into an escrow whose release conditions are outside the buyers' control.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.