Read the general investor planning overview
Hypothetical example: Nadia is a Canadian citizen who runs a portable sawmilling operation near Chase and wants to buy a low-cost U.S. mobile milling business. E-2 requires treaty nationality for her and at least half the enterprise, funds irrevocably committed and at risk, an investment substantial relative to the total cost, a real operating non-marginal enterprise, and ownership or operational control sufficient to develop and direct it. An E-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status. There is no direct E-2 path to permanent residence. The small purchase price changes the proportionality analysis, not those governing conditions. The reader's operative choice is whether to commit enough money to make the purchase operationally credible before the application, or to negotiate a contingency that preserves capital without leaving it uncommitted. Hypothetical example: A bicycle-repair entrepreneur is buying a compact repair bay and has cash for the price but not for the opening inventory. She must decide whether the real cost includes that inventory and whether she can document its purchase. The answer affects both the amount committed and the forecast she presents.
A cheap business raises the proportion required, not the amount
Substantiality is measured against the total cost of buying an established business of that kind or creating a new one. On an inexpensive acquisition that comparison is unforgiving: an investor is effectively expected to have committed nearly the whole cost, because there is no plausible reason to leave a small purchase partly funded. Nadia should therefore expect the file to show close to full funding of the purchase price plus the equipment, licences, insurance and working capital the operation actually needs. Counting the working capital properly usually raises the total cost figure, which helps rather than hurts, provided the money has genuinely been committed and can be traced. The purchase agreement, invoices and escrow terms should be read together. They establish what the business actually costs and which payments have moved beyond the buyer's control.
Marginality asks about capacity, and projections must be defensible
The enterprise must not exist solely to provide a minimal living for the investor and family. It may satisfy this either by present capacity or by a projected capacity to be reached within a reasonable period, usually treated as around five years. For a one-machine milling business the honest route is usually growth: additional equipment, additional crew, contracts that require more capacity than the owner alone provides. A projection that shows employees being hired should show what those employees will do and why the revenue supports them. Inflating the forecast is the common error, because a projection that cannot be justified from the industry's own economics undermines the parts of the file that were sound. Choose a forecast that can survive comparison with the business's capacity, customers and payroll. The operative choice is whether the planned expansion is supported by evidence or merely desired by the investor.
Build the case from documents that already exist
The most credible small-business file leans on real records rather than narrative. The Canadian operation's financial statements demonstrate that Nadia has run this kind of business successfully and understands its margins. Quotes and signed orders from prospective United States customers show demand. Equipment invoices, a signed yard lease, insurance binders and licence applications show money irrevocably committed rather than merely intended. Bank records trace the funds from their lawful source into those commitments. Where a projection is required, tying it to those documents rather than to market generalities is what makes it defensible, and it is better to present a modest business honestly than to describe an ambitious one that the evidence does not support. Make a payment ledger before drafting the narrative. It gives the reviewer a way to follow each dollar from source through commitment without guessing at the sequence.
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.