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MORINVILLE · E-2 FIELD GUIDE

Should an E-2 plan be reassessed when a treaty-national partner sells before filing?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

Yes. Recalculate the actual ownership and control arrangements before relying on the earlier plan.

Use the effective transaction facts

The sale may affect enterprise nationality or development and direction. Keep the intended filing and operating schedule tied to the completed arrangement and the full investment requirements. A historic qualifying percentage does not establish the facts after a material ownership change.

Work backwards from the steps you control: covenant wording settled, funds traced and transferred, closing completed or firmly committed, business plan and staffing set, packet reviewed, appointment attended. Set milestones you control — records retrieved, investment evidence assembled, counsel's read on the refusal — and avoid commitments keyed to a decision date nobody can promise. E-2 evidence should show a genuine enterprise and committed capital, yet a contingent purchase, escrow release, and actual management activity can have different dates and legal consequences. Sequence commercial readiness by recording each consent, transfer, payment, and condition with its actual effective date. Reconcile the operating agreement, capitalization table, escrow or purchase conditions, vendor deadlines, opening budget, and control rights. Funds must remain irrevocably committed and at risk on genuine terms; a delay that restores unrestricted control to the investor may change that analysis.