IN THIS GUIDE · Read the authority retained by an investor who hires an operating manager
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Identify the investor’s actual directing rights
Relevant treaty nationals must own at least 50% of the enterprise. The investor must develop and direct through at least 50% ownership or other qualifying operational control. Describe the real authority retained and delegated; a shareholder title or employment agreement alone cannot replace the actual governance arrangement.
Show the lawful substantial commitment
Capital must be lawfully sourced, substantial in relation to the business and committed at risk, with no universal minimum. Trace actual payments and their path. Properly structured visa-contingent escrow may qualify, but a plan to fund the enterprise later is not automatically equivalent to an existing qualifying commitment.
Read borrowing and nonmarginality independently
Personal unsecured borrowing or debt secured solely by non-enterprise personal assets may count. Enterprise-secured debt is excluded even with personal collateral. The enterprise must be real and nonmarginal, supporting more than minimal living for the investor and family or a significant economic contribution. Projected capacity should generally be realizable within five years of normal business activity.
Describe genuine business work and the appropriate process
Explain the actual operating manager arrangement without inventing an employee or overstating the investor’s duties. Intent to depart when E status ends remains necessary; Canadians generally require an E visa. A management contract cannot authorize the investor’s U.S. work by itself or guarantee approval.
Confirm the investment is substantial and irrevocably committed
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. Substantiality is measured in proportion to the total cost of purchasing an established enterprise or of creating a viable new one, so a modest sum can be substantial for a small operation and a large sum insufficient for a capital-heavy one. The usual approach is an escrow that releases to the seller on visa issuance and returns to the buyer if the visa is refused; this is accepted as irrevocable commitment when the only condition is the visa. List every current and proposed owner, their citizenship, and their exact percentage, then confirm that treaty nationals of the same treaty country would still hold at least fifty percent of the United States enterprise after the new subscription closes. A useful review identifies the amount already irrevocably committed, the amount still exposed to loss, and the date on which each owner payment would leave the enterprise. The investor’s nationality, funding and direction of a real enterprise must be assessed alongside substantiality and non-marginality; a promising customer relationship is not the entire case. 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.
Substantiality is proportional, not a fixed number
Substantiality is judged in proportion to the cost of acquiring or establishing this particular enterprise, not against a fixed number, so the purchase price and asset base matter more than any general figure. Present the contracts, the payroll history and a projection that shows capacity to hire or generate income beyond a minimal living for the investor. Bank transfers, escrow terms, invoices, ownership documents and cancellation clauses show what has truly been committed.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.