IN THIS GUIDE · Who holds the shares, whether the money can still be pulled back, and whether the business supports more than its owner
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Buying land does not mean buying a business
Hypothetical example: a couple from Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford agree to buy a boarding and lesson barn in northern New York for a price that is mostly acreage, a farmhouse and an indoor arena. They assume the whole cheque is their investment. It is not, and this is where these files most often go wrong. Capital counts when it is committed to the commercial enterprise, so the arena, the fencing, the equipment, the herd and the working capital point one way, while the farmhouse the family will live in points the other. Real property held for the business can count; a residence carved out of the same deed is a personal asset that happens to share a legal description. Splitting the purchase price line by line, before signing, is what makes the investment figure defensible instead of arguable.
At risk means the money can be lost
Funds sitting in an escrow account that returns to the buyer if the deal fails are not at risk in the sense the regulation intends. That is the point of the requirement: an investor who has committed nothing has risked nothing. The usual structure that satisfies it releases the funds on a condition tied only to the immigration outcome, so the money is otherwise gone. Equipment already bought, a lease already signed with rent already paid, renovations already completed and inventory already delivered all count strongly, because none of it can be undone. Borrowed money can qualify where the investor is personally liable and the loan is not secured by the assets of the business being purchased, since a loan secured that way puts the lender's capital at risk rather than the investor's.
Marginality is answered by other people's wages
A business that produces only a living for the investor and the family is marginal and does not support the category, however profitable that living is. The evidence that answers marginality is payroll: employees already on the books of an acquired business, or a staffing plan in a new one with dates, roles and wage figures that the enterprise's projected revenue can actually carry. A barn with two working owners and no staff has a marginality problem no matter how many horses it boards. The rule allows a short runway, so a plan showing the capacity to employ within a few years can suffice, but the plan has to be arithmetic rather than ambition, and it should be prepared by someone willing to stand behind the numbers.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.