Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Reconcile value, price and ownership
Identify the assets, seller rights, purchase terms and payments. An appraised value and the applicant’s actual contribution are different facts. Explain any noncash contribution under the applicable requirements rather than treating a valuation report as a payment receipt.
Maintain the full E-2 test
At least 50% relevant treaty-country national enterprise ownership, development and direction, substantial at-risk qualifying capital with lawful source and path, and a real nonmarginal business remain necessary. Nonmarginality includes more than minimal living or significant economic contribution under the applicable rules. There is no universal minimum or EB-5 ten-job quota; Canadians generally require an E visa.
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. Once the ownership works, the remaining findings are the usual ones: an investment substantial in proportion to the total cost of acquiring the business, funds irrevocably committed and at risk, a real and operating enterprise, and an enterprise that is more than marginal. The capital must belong to the investor, must be irrevocably committed, and must be genuinely at risk of loss if the business fails; money still sitting in escrow under conditions the buyer alone controls has not yet been placed at risk. Loans are not prohibited, but collateral matters: funds secured against the enterprise's own assets are treated differently from a mortgage on personal property. Marginality asks whether the enterprise can do more than support the investor's family: the plan should show technicians on payroll or a credible hiring schedule within five years, and revenue beyond a household living. Sequence ownership and spending evidence carefully: confirm treaty nationality, document qualifying ownership, trace funds, then show the investor’s role in directing and developing the operation. The enterprise must be real and not marginal, while the investor must develop and direct it; E-2 itself does not provide a permanent-residence outcome. Where borrowing is involved, distinguish debt secured by the business assets from borrowing backed by personal collateral, and ask counsel to review the specific instrument rather than assuming financing is disqualifying.
Prove the business is substantial and not marginal
A scaffolding services company whose profit covers only the investor's household, with no other employees and no documented growth plan, looks on paper like exactly the kind of marginal enterprise the requirement exists to screen out. The clauses that matter here are different: who decides pricing, what the franchisor can require, whether the franchisee may choose suppliers or hire freely, what approvals are needed to sell, and on what grounds the agreement can be terminated. For a service franchise that means vehicles on the road, technicians hired or committed, licences obtained and customers being served. An employee of a treaty investor may qualify where the employee holds the same treaty nationality as the enterprise's owners and is coming to fill an executive or supervisory role, or to perform duties requiring skills essential to the enterprise's operations. 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. Amount is judged proportionally: substantial in relation to the total cost of purchasing an established enterprise or establishing a new one, which is why a modest sum can be substantial for a service business and inadequate for a production facility. Ask both whether the enterprise will be real and operating by the interview date: a signed yard lease, purchased equipment, a state contractor’s registration and a first customer contract answer marginality better than projections.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.