Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Show what changes between the forecast years
Explain customer assumptions, capacity, staffing and expenditure needed to reach the projected activity. Identify dependencies and the evidence supporting them. A forecast can be prospective, but a desired revenue figure alone does not establish how the enterprise will achieve it.
Apply nonmarginality with the complete E-2 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.
Connect the forecast with actual capital
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. Reconcile available operating resources with the plan. Do not imply that uncommitted savings automatically become qualifying investment because the forecast will eventually need them.
Irrevocable commitment usually means escrow with a single condition
The investor must be a Canadian citizen, and Canadian nationals must own at least fifty percent of the enterprise. Money the applicant can still take back at will is not committed, but 9 FAM 402.9-6(B) accepts a purchase conditioned on issuance of the E-2 visa as a solid, irrevocable commitment where the assets are held in escrow for release once that condition is met. Because funds must be committed before the visa is issued, buyers commonly use escrow that releases on visa approval or a purchase agreement conditional on it, so that commitment is real but not lost if the visa is refused. The company may rely on outside suppliers without becoming passive, but the investor must genuinely develop and direct the enterprise. Substantial capital is judged relative to the cost of the particular enterprise, not against a fixed minimum, so the spending pattern should match the plan you are presenting. The capital must be irrevocably committed and exposed to loss; a refundable reservation or a seller's unrestricted cancellation right may therefore need closer analysis. The transaction checklist follows ownership, money, contracts, premises, and operations; the immigration checklist tests treaty nationality, enterprise nationality, substantiality, risk, nonmarginality, and the investor’s developing-and-directing role.
Show a business beyond personal support
Properly structured visa-contingent escrow may qualify, but an optional or freely reversible proposal should not be described as equivalent. Debt secured by the assets of the business being purchased raises different questions from an obligation backed by the buyer's own assets or personal guarantee. Signed office lease with deposit paid, purchased monitoring hardware and licences, a funded U.S. business account, professional-liability insurance bound, and executed client agreements all show commitment. Projections that assume a ten-year horizon are unsupportable if the agreement expires in three with renewal at the franchisor's discretion, and projections that assume expansion into a neighbouring town are unsupportable if the territory does not include it. Count what is genuinely irrevocable: equipment purchased, prepaid lease and deposits, software and infrastructure commitments, professional and incorporation costs, marketing spend, and salaries committed for hires. The enterprise may not be marginal; it must show present or future capacity beyond basic household support, and Canadian applicants ordinarily seek an E visa before travel.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.