Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Solve the control problem before incorporating
An applicant must be coming to develop and direct the enterprise, which is ordinarily shown by owning at least fifty percent or by operational control through a managerial position or other device. In an even split neither shareholder holds a majority, so the shareholders' agreement has to allocate operational control clearly: who is the managing member, who signs, who hires, who decides pricing. Draft that before the company is formed. Fixing it afterwards means amending agreements that a reviewer has already seen, which raises a question the original drafting could have avoided. Start with the transaction terms. A signed purchase agreement, escrow instructions and release conditions explain whether money has actually left the investor’s control. A conditional arrangement can work only when its conditions and risk are documented; vague assurances from a seller do not establish commitment.
Measure substantiality against the real cost
There is no minimum figure. The committed capital is weighed against the total cost of establishing a viable enterprise of this type, and a lower-cost business needs a proportionately higher share of that cost committed. Build the total from quotations: warehouse lease and deposit, racking, initial inventory, a delivery vehicle, systems, licences and working capital. Then show what has actually been paid or irrevocably bound against it. Inventory purchased and delivered counts; inventory a supplier has agreed to sell later does not. Measure substantiality against the real cost of acquiring or starting this particular enterprise. Build a schedule of purchase price, equipment, leasehold work, inventory and operating cash, then show payment evidence beside each line. The review should separate business spending from personal relocation expenses.
Address marginality with a defensible plan
The enterprise must not be marginal: it must have the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family, ordinarily within about five years. For a parts distributor that means a plan built on realistic gross margins, a customer base that can be described, and a hiring schedule that is more than a line in a spreadsheet. Where the projections rest on assumptions, state them and source them from the applicant's own trading history rather than from generic industry figures. A non-marginality analysis needs operating facts, not an attractive slide deck. Test the hiring plan, revenue assumptions, margins and working capital against contracts, quotations, industry data and the owner’s capacity to execute. If the company will only support one person, revise the venture or the expectation.
Know what the category does and does not give
At least half the enterprise must be owned by nationals of the treaty country, and the investor's own nationality must qualify. A spouse accompanying the investor is employment-authorized incident to status. The classification can be extended while the qualifying facts continue, but it provides no direct path to permanent residence, and it depends on the investor keeping the ownership and control the application described. If either partner later sells down, that is an immigration event as well as a commercial one. Decide the ownership structure before funds move. Share certificates, nationality evidence and voting rights must support treaty-national control, while the investor must be able to develop and direct the business. Adding a nominal partner after closing can create a contradiction rather than solve one.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.