Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Describe the actual funding terms
Establish lawful source and path and show that the funds are irrevocably committed and at risk. Do not describe an obligation to repay as an unconditional gift. Debt financing needs its actual terms reviewed; E-2 treatment of debt secured by enterprise assets differs from qualifying personal financing.
Complete the enterprise assessment
The investor must have treaty-country nationality, and at least 50% of the enterprise must share that treaty nationality; Canada qualifies. The investor must develop and direct the enterprise, ordinarily through at least 50% ownership or operational control. The capital must be substantial relative to the business, which must be real, operating and more than marginal. No universal E-2 minimum or ten-job quota applies, and E-2 provides no direct path to permanent residence. Hypothetical example: a Canadian paper conservator plans to acquire a U.S. document-preservation studio. She signs a purchase agreement, sends money to escrow, and expects the seller to return the money if the application is denied. She must decide whether the release instructions make the capital genuinely committed, whether her Canadian ownership preserves treaty nationality, and whether the operating forecast is more than a personal practice. The executed agreement, escrow terms, wire record, asset list, share register, client pipeline, and staffing plan resolve different issues. Leaving most of the price in an account she can withdraw at will weakens the risk analysis; spending everything before the transaction is defined can create a separate business problem. A viable file connects the commercial terms to her control of the enterprise and explains why its present or future capacity is not marginal. Before money moves, separate the source review from the commitment review and from the operating-business review. A bank statement can trace where funds came from but cannot show that a purchase obligation is binding. Conversely, a signed invoice may show a commitment without explaining lawful source. The investor must decide which funds are actually counted, which contract terms create loss exposure, and which operational records demonstrate that she will direct a business with a meaningful capacity beyond her household needs.
Have the lease terms reviewed as legal documents
Substantiality is judged against the cost of the particular United States enterprise; there is no universal minimum figure and no ten-job rule. E-2 depends on the nationality of the investor and on treaty nationals holding at least fifty percent of the enterprise, together with genuine development and direction of the business. Substantiality is proportional rather than absolute: the investment is weighed against the cost of buying an established business of this kind or of creating one from nothing, so a small enterprise needs a smaller sum, not an excuse. Ask the seller for three years of financial statements, the employee list with wage records, the equipment titles, the permits that must transfer and the lease assignment terms, because those documents feed the substantiality and marginality evidence. Non-marginality can rest on capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family, or on significant economic contribution; either argument is stronger when the projection shows which lines produce that capacity and when. The business must not be marginal, and the evidence should connect the recovery plan to actual authority to develop and direct operations rather than to a passive financial interest. Borrowing is not prohibited, but funds secured only by the assets of the business being purchased are generally treated differently from personally secured debt.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.