IN THIS GUIDE · Work out the cap table before writing the business plan
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Nationality of ownership is a threshold question
Canada is a treaty country for E-2, so Canadian citizenship supports the claim. But the enterprise itself must have the nationality of the treaty country, which is determined by the nationality of the owners, and a person who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States does not count toward treaty nationality. In the example the two Canadians hold eighty per cent between them, which is the fact that matters, but neither holds fifty per cent alone. Whether an individual applicant develops and directs the enterprise then has to be established through operational control rather than through a majority shareholding, and that argument needs documents. A practical first review creates a funds trail from the applicant's account to the seller, landlord, suppliers and business account. It identifies deposits that remain refundable and expenses that do not advance the enterprise. The aim is not to spend blindly; it is to show a commercial commitment whose loss is possible.
Commit the funds irrevocably and put them at risk
The capital must be irrevocably committed to the enterprise and subject to partial or total loss if the business fails. Money sitting in a personal account earmarked for the venture is not committed. Money the applicant can still take back at will is not committed, but 9 FAM 402.9-6(B) accepts a purchase conditioned on issuance of the E-2 visa as a solid, irrevocable commitment where the assets are held in escrow for release once that condition is met. Amounts already spent on equipment, a lease, insurance, vehicles, licences and inventory are the strongest evidence, because they cannot be recovered. Keep the paper trail from source to expenditure intact, including the lawful origin of the funds, and expect the proportion invested to be weighed against what a business of this type genuinely costs to establish. Use operating documents to test marginality: existing contracts, staffing assumptions, pricing, licences and a forecast tied to known demand. This lets the applicant decide whether the plan needs employees, a different scale, or more preparation. A spreadsheet with no source documents rarely resolves the commercial question.
Show a real operating business that is not marginal
The enterprise must be real, active and operating, producing goods or services for profit, and it must be more than marginal — it must have the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family, or to make a significant economic contribution. A landscape business with seasonal contracts, employees and equipment can meet that comfortably; a plan describing one owner working alone at capacity does not. E-2 also carries no direct path to permanent residence, which should be stated at the beginning of the planning conversation rather than assumed away. A treaty investor’s spouse is employment-authorized incident to status. Prepare a control map before asking a lawyer to describe development and direction. It should state who owns voting interests, signs contracts, controls the bank account, and makes operating decisions. That map also reveals whether treaty-national ownership needs attention before the filing is submitted.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.