Read the general investor planning overview
A payment labelled deposit can serve several purposes. For a Fundy Albert investor, the useful E-2 question is what the signed terms and subsequent events establish about funds committed to the enterprise—not whether the receipt uses a reassuring label.
Read the clauses that control the money
Collect the agreement, amendments, payment confirmation and the terms governing release or return. Identify the holder of the funds and each remaining condition. A wholly refundable reservation and money released toward an acquisition should not be described as the same completed transaction. At the same time, do not assume every refund provision defeats E-2: the actual arrangement needs review. Prepare a short account of what has happened and what still must happen, with document references for each statement.
Place that payment inside the entire business case
Trace the lawful source of the money and its path to the recipient. The overall investment must be substantial, at risk and committed to a real operating enterprise; there is no universal E-2 minimum dollar amount. Verify qualifying treaty nationality and at least 50% relevant treaty-country national ownership of the enterprise, along with the investor’s ability to develop and direct it. A large deposit cannot repair a nationality or control problem. Nor does proof of payment, by itself, establish that the business will be nonmarginal.
Reconcile the file when the transaction changes
If funds are refunded, a seller extends a deadline or an escrow holder releases money, update the transaction account rather than leaving the original receipt to imply an outdated position. Show how remaining capital and the operating budget support the business beyond merely a minimal living for the investor and family, or the applicable significant economic contribution standard. E-2 has no EB-5-style ten-job rule. The final investment account should allow a reviewer to distinguish money already exposed to business risk from funds still available to the applicant without pretending the two are equivalent.
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.