IN THIS GUIDE · A purchase whose value is mostly a book of contracts, paid for with money that could still come back
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Money that can come back is not money at risk
The investment must be irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk of partial or total loss if the business fails. An escrow that returns the funds to Rachid when a permit transfer falls through is, on its face, the opposite of that. There is a recognized way through this, and it is a matter of drafting rather than wishful description: escrow arrangements whose only release condition is the outcome of the application itself are treated differently from arrangements that make the money contingent on ordinary commercial risks. A permit-transfer condition is a commercial risk allocated to the seller's performance, not an immigration contingency. Either the condition is removed and the risk is priced into the purchase price, or the deal is restructured so that the capital moves irrevocably and the permit failure is dealt with by indemnity. Nobody should apply while a refundable deposit is described as an investment.
Substantiality when there is very little to photograph
There is no fixed minimum. Substantiality is proportional: the amount is weighed against the total cost of purchasing an established enterprise of that kind, and it must be large enough to make it likely that the investor will successfully develop and direct the business. A customer book can be perfectly good value and count toward the investment where the purchase agreement allocates price to it and an independent valuation supports the allocation. What defeats such a file is not the intangibility of the asset but the absence of anything supporting the number. Rachid should obtain a written purchase price allocation, three years of the seller's financial statements rather than projections, a schedule of the contracts with their renewal dates and termination rights, and a valuation prepared by somebody who does not stand to earn a commission on the sale.
A hired manager is allowed; an absent owner is not
The applicant must develop and direct the enterprise, which is ordinarily demonstrated by owning at least fifty per cent or by holding operational control through a managerial position or other device. Employing an experienced general manager is normal and sensible, and it does not disqualify anyone. The difficulty with one week a month is evidentiary rather than doctrinal: it invites the conclusion that the manager directs the business and Rachid merely owns a share of it. The remedy is to write the control down. Reserved matters requiring his approval, the reporting cadence, hiring authority, banking mandates and pricing decisions should all be documented, and the enterprise must also be real, operating and more than marginal, meaning it has the present or near-future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for him and his family.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.