Read the general investor planning overview
An investor in the Canton of Hatley should explain the actual rights and capital represented by payments made before the final operating entity was organized. The reader must decide whether to close the purchase before applying, accepting the risk of owning a U.S. business without the status to run it, or to hold the price in an escrow that releases only on visa issuance. Both satisfy the requirement that funds be irrevocably committed; a refundable deposit satisfies neither.
Preserve the transaction chain
Trace lawful source and path and identify the real ownership or use of resources. Do not assume all earlier payments are excluded, but do not treat unrelated personal purchases as enterprise investment without a basis. Avoid counting the same resource twice through a later accounting entry.
Complete the treaty-investor conditions
At least 50% relevant treaty-country national ownership, development and direction, substantial at-risk capital and a real nonmarginal business remain necessary. Nonmarginality includes more than minimal living or significant economic contribution under applicable rules. There is no universal E-2 minimum or ten-job quota; current rights and operations must support the actual proposal.
Choose between closing outright and a visa-contingent escrow
Hypothetical example: a Canton of Hatley maple-syrup producer agrees to buy a farm store and sugaring operation in northern Vermont, financed partly from savings and partly from a line of credit secured against the couple’s Québec home rather than against the U.S. business. Borrowing secured by personal assets can count as capital at risk; borrowing secured by the assets of the enterprise itself cannot. The seller wants a quick closing. If the producer closes now, the money is spent and plainly committed, but he owns a business he cannot lawfully operate until E-2 is granted and must pay a manager in the meantime. If instead the full price sits in an escrow whose only release condition is the visa, and whose only alternative outcome is return to him on refusal, the funds are still treated as irrevocably committed for E-2 purposes while the downside is contained. A deposit refundable at his discretion, or a purchase conditional on financing, commits nothing. The decision is a negotiation with the seller as much as a legal one.
Prove the seasonal business is more than marginal
A sugaring operation earns most of its revenue in a few weeks, so the file must show the enterprise will do more than support the couple’s living: a five-year projection with off-season store sales, wholesale contracts and at least one non-family employee planned within that period. Substantiality is judged by comparing the amount invested with the cost of buying or establishing this particular business, not against any fixed dollar figure. The couple should confirm Canadian nationals hold at least half of the buying entity and that the producer himself will develop and direct it. E-2 renews while these facts hold but offers no direct route to permanent residence.
Decide whether an equal partnership still lets you direct
Hypothetical example: a Canton of Hatley welding contractor is offered half of an established Vermont steel-fabrication shop by its American owner, who will keep the other half and stay on. The price is partly seller-financed by a note secured against the shop’s own equipment. Two E-2 conditions collide here. Ownership by Canadian nationals of exactly 50% meets the treaty-nationality threshold, but only just, and any later share issued to the American partner drops the enterprise below it. Development and direction also become a question: with equal shares the contractor must show operational control or at least negative control through the shareholder agreement, with a written role in hiring, pricing and capital decisions. As for the note, debt secured by the assets of the enterprise itself cannot count; cash he pays, unsecured borrowing for which he is personally liable, or borrowing secured only against his own Québec assets may count if irrevocably committed and at risk. The decision is whether to negotiate 51% and an unsecured or personally secured note, or accept a weaker file at 50% and prove control through the agreement. The shop’s existing staff may support nonmarginality but do not establish it by themselves; the file must also show capacity to generate more than a minimal living or make a significant economic contribution, as well as his authority over the enterprise.
What else is on your mind?
Is there one minimum investment that guarantees E-2 eligibility?Is holding money or owning an asset enough for E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.