Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Build the ownership record through the proposed change
Identify each owner, nationality, percentage and effective date. Explain any parent entities and trace the relevant ownership rather than relying on the company’s place of registration. Separate enterprise treaty nationality from the applicant’s ability to develop and direct; they are related requirements with different questions.
Retain the investment and business conditions
E-2 requires qualifying treaty nationality at applicant and enterprise levels, generally at least 50% treaty-country enterprise ownership. Development and direction can be established through at least 50% ownership or actual operational control. Capital must be lawful, substantial and committed at risk in a real nonmarginal enterprise; there is no universal dollar minimum. Nonmarginality means capacity beyond a minimal living for the investor and family or significant economic contribution; projected capacity should generally be realized within five years of normal business activity. Intent to depart when E status ends remains necessary.
Read funding and governance together
Funds secured by enterprise assets are excluded even if personal assets also secure the debt. Personal-only secured or unsecured borrowing may qualify under the other investment conditions. A voting agreement can affect control even when share percentages remain unchanged. Reconcile governance with the investment evidence and the real operating plan rather than selecting whichever document looks most favourable.
Seller financing secured on the business is not investment
Substantiality is judged in proportion to the cost of the business: a purchase of the going concern, its furniture, systems and working capital should bring the committed amount close to the total. 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. An employee of a treaty investor may qualify where the employee holds the same treaty nationality as the enterprise's owners and is coming to fill an executive or supervisory role, or to perform duties requiring skills essential to the enterprise's operations. A loan secured by the assets of the business being purchased does not count, since the lender rather than the buyer bears that risk; if the resort fails, the seller takes the resort back and the buyer's exposure was never real. The investment must be irrevocably committed, at risk, and placed in an enterprise that is not marginal; a refundable arrangement may require more explanation than a payment exposed to the business's success or failure. The test asks whether the enterprise has present or near-future capacity to generate income significantly beyond meeting the investor's own living needs, typically evidenced through job creation for U.S. workers or a credible expansion trajectory, not through the owner's personal draw alone. If part of the price is seller-financed, only the portion actually paid and any indebtedness secured by the buyers’ personal assets counts; a loan secured on the business itself does not. Trace each transfer from the investor to the enterprise, noting any escrow release, seller financing, or refund right that changes the risk analysis.
Irrevocable commitment usually means escrow with a single condition
The usual approach is an escrow that releases to the seller on visa issuance and returns to the buyer if the visa is refused; this is accepted as irrevocable commitment when the only condition is the visa. Enterprise-asset security excludes the debt even when personal collateral also supports it; borrowing secured solely by non-enterprise personal assets must be assessed on its real terms.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.