IN THIS GUIDE · Assign business duties without assuming the whole family can work
Identify who will do each part of the work
Hypothetical example: a purchase plan assigns management to the investor, customer service to a spouse and occasional help to a child. Record those activities accurately and review individual permission. Do not build the operating plan on an assumption that ownership or family relationships automatically authorize employment. Follow the money in both directions. Show its lawful source and path into the business, then show what will happen if the venture fails. Escrow can be useful when a real condition governs release, but a fully refundable reservation may not show the same degree of commitment. Keep personal living reserves and professional fees separate from commercial capital.
Assess control and the real enterprise
Identify qualifying treaty nationality, ownership rights and actual direction of the business. Review substantiality and nonmarginality; no universal fixed E-2 minimum applies. A household’s enthusiasm or intended participation does not establish the enterprise requirements. Test the operating plan as an operating plan. Identify customers, premises, licences, staffing, inventory or equipment, projected revenue, and the applicant’s role in developing and directing the enterprise. A forecast should explain why the business has present or future capacity beyond a minimal living for the investor’s household. It should not depend on family members performing work without their own authority.
Trace the qualifying commitment
Provide lawful source and path, purchase and escrow terms and actual transfers. Personally secured or unsecured loans may qualify under applicable rules; enterprise-asset-secured debt does not count as the investor’s qualifying investment. Separate fees and living reserves from actual committed capital at risk. Sequence commercial and immigration decisions carefully. A purchase or lease may be conditioned on the appropriate outcome, but neither funding nor incorporation itself authorizes work. Qualifying E spouses may work when valid classification and appropriate evidence establish permission; children do not receive work authorization just through dependent status. The best plan states what each person will do at each stage instead of assuming one business decision settles the whole household.
Coordinate the purchase with actual status
Signing or funding the acquisition does not itself authorize work. Qualifying E spouses may be employment-authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation, while children do not receive employment permission solely through dependent status. Review the real transaction and each person’s planned activity before opening. Business ownership needs to be genuine in operation as well as on paper. Record voting rights, management authority, distributions, and any agreement that limits the investor’s control. A nominee arrangement or an unexplained outside decision-maker can weaken the factual picture. The reader should decide whether the investor truly directs the enterprise before treating a share certificate as conclusive.
Explain enterprise nationality and nonmarginality precisely
The enterprise generally must be at least 50% owned by nationals of the relevant treaty country; the applicant’s passport alone does not establish enterprise nationality. Nonmarginality includes capacity to provide more than a minimal living for the investor and family, with the alternative of a significant economic contribution. Apply those conditions to the real operating proposal rather than importing EB-5’s capital amounts or ten-job rule into E-2. Canada is an E-2 treaty country. Funds must be irrevocably committed and at risk in an amount substantial relative to the actual business, and the investor must develop and direct through ordinarily at least 50% ownership or operational control. E-2 provides no direct path to permanent residence. Maintain a post-launch record of commercial activity: leases, supplier orders, customer invoices, payroll, permits, and account statements. Those documents help show that the enterprise remains real and that the investor continues to direct it. If income or staffing changes, revise projections candidly. A later renewal is easier to assess when the record distinguishes actual performance from early estimates.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.