Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Map the nationality and authority
At least 50% of the enterprise must be owned by nationals of the relevant treaty country, and the applicant must develop and direct it. Identify actual citizenships, ownership and governing rights. Residence in Canada is not itself proof of treaty nationality. Read the signed equity papers as governance documents. Include indirect holders, options, trusts, vetoes, and appointment rights, then compare the register with the operating agreement. The point is settled by what was issued and what authority it confers, not by a simplified ownership diagram prepared for the application. Finish this step before a purchase or lease assumes a nationality result.
Complete the investment and business analysis
Substantial at-risk qualifying capital needs lawful source and path. There is no universal E-2 minimum. The real enterprise must satisfy nonmarginality through more than minimal living or significant economic contribution under the applicable framework, without an EB-5 ten-job quota. Canadian citizens generally require an E visa for E-2 entry. Trace funds from their lawful origin through each transfer and currency conversion to a completed purchase or binding obligation. Mark separately the money already exposed to the venture’s loss and money still callable without consequence. The same file should describe real premises, activity, and a credible route beyond a lifestyle-scale operation. Hypothetical example: a tabletop-game publisher pays a nonrefundable deposit for a US distribution catalogue, signs a warehouse lease, and orders its first printing. The seller offers further titles only under an unsigned option. The decision is whether the existing commitments support the application now or whether projected sales rest on rights never acquired. The executed acquisition contract, deposit receipt, lease, and printer invoice answer that question; a pitch deck does not. The owner must also show who selects titles, negotiates distribution, and supervises the business. If receipts are initially modest, dated inventory and a realistic distribution plan can matter more than unsupported sales promises.
Confirm the investment is substantial and irrevocably committed
The investor must develop and direct the enterprise, ordinarily by owning at least fifty percent or by holding operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device. E-2 is a nonimmigrant classification for a treaty-national investor who has made, or is actively in the process of making, a substantial investment in a bona fide U.S. enterprise and will personally lead its development and direction. The capital has to be irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk, substantial in relation to the total cost of the enterprise, and lawfully sourced with a documented path. Loans are not banned, but collateral matters: financing secured by the enterprise's own assets is treated differently from borrowing secured by the investor's personal property. Substantiality is judged in proportion to the total cost of acquiring the enterprise, not against a fixed dollar figure, and there is no universal minimum. Properly structured visa-contingent escrow may qualify, but a list of optional opportunities is not equivalent to capital committed to the business. Personally secured or unsecured borrowing requires assessment of the actual terms; calling every loan either acceptable or prohibited skips the important distinction.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.