IN THIS GUIDE · Money you can still get back has not been invested, whatever the purchase agreement says
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Irrevocable commitment is a question about the escrow instructions
The regulation asks whether the funds are subject to partial or total loss if the enterprise fails, and whether the investor has placed them beyond her own recall. A refundable deposit fails on both counts. The customary answer is not to abandon the protection but to redraft it: escrow may be released to the seller on the sole remaining condition that the visa is issued, so that the money is irretrievably committed to the purchase and the only thing standing between it and the seller is the immigration decision itself. Anne-Sophie should also be spending on the business rather than only around it. Equipment bought, a lease signed, insurance bound and staff engaged are commitments that no one can unwind, and they are the clearest evidence that a real enterprise is being brought into existence.
Substantial, real, operating and not marginal are four separate hurdles
Substantiality is proportional rather than absolute: the investment is weighed against the cost of buying an established business of this kind or of creating one from nothing, so a small enterprise needs a smaller sum, not an excuse. The enterprise must also be real and operating, which excludes an idea, a holding of undeveloped land and a company that exists only on paper. Marginality is the hurdle that catches the smallest ventures: the business must have the present or near-future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and her family, ordinarily demonstrated by a credible projection of income or by employment created beyond the family itself. A stable with twenty boarders and one employee may satisfy this comfortably; a stable with four boarders and no staff usually will not.
Nationality, control, and where the route does not lead
The enterprise must be at least fifty per cent owned by nationals of the treaty country, and Anne-Sophie's own Canadian citizenship must be established rather than her residence. She must develop and direct the business, which is ordinarily shown by majority ownership or by another form of operational control such as a managing partnership interest. Her spouse, if he accompanies her, is employment-authorized incident to status and may work for any employer. What the classification does not offer is any route of its own to permanent residence: E-2 may be renewed for as long as the enterprise continues to qualify and the investor maintains an intention to depart when the status ends, and it never converts into a green card by the passage of time. A family that wants permanence should plan a separate route for it from the outset.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.