Read the general investor planning overview
Presence and control are different things. An investor who lives near the border and drops in weekly may still be a passive owner, and one who visits monthly may genuinely run the enterprise. E-2 asks who makes the decisions that direct the business, not who is standing in the building, so the file has to describe authority rather than attendance.
Describe genuine decisions and responsibilities
Hypothetical example: a Niagara Falls investor buys a U.S. cold-storage depot, appoints a general manager to run daily operations, and attends on alternate weeks. Set out who actually decides what: who sets pricing and capital budgets, who hires and dismisses, who signs leases and supply agreements, who can bind the company. Then set out what the general manager decides alone. Develop and direct is a question about that allocation of authority. Being a signatory on a bank account is administrative access rather than direction, and a travel calendar shows availability rather than control. Where the governing documents reserve the substantive decisions to the investor, say so and cite the clause; where they do not, it is the structure that needs changing, not the description of it.
Hold the nationality and capital tests apart
E-2 nationality is examined at two levels. The individual investor must hold treaty-country nationality, and the enterprise itself must generally be at least fifty per cent owned by nationals of the same treaty country, traced through to the ultimate individual owners rather than stopping at a holding company. The capital test is separate and unforgiving: funds must be lawfully sourced with their path documented, substantial in proportion to the total cost of establishing or purchasing this business, irrevocably committed, and genuinely at risk. There is no universal minimum figure anywhere in the rules. Money that remains available to the investor — sitting in a personal account, reserved but unspent, or held in escrow with no genuine visa-contingent release condition — has not been committed and does not qualify however large the balance.
Explain the real enterprise
The enterprise must be real and operating rather than marginal, which means showing present or near-term capacity to produce more than a minimal living for the investor and family, or a significant economic contribution, with future capacity ordinarily expected within about five years of normal operation. Build that from documented costs, staffing and contracts rather than from optimism. Financing needs the same care: borrowing that is personally unsecured, or secured only against assets outside the enterprise, may count on its actual terms, while debt secured by the enterprise’s own assets is excluded even where personal assets also stand behind it. Direction is proved through at least fifty per cent ownership or another qualifying form of operational control. A Canadian citizen applies for the E-2 visa at a consular post rather than at the border, must intend to depart when E status ends, and should not treat E-2 as a route to permanent residence. A convenient commute satisfies none of these conditions and authorizes no work.
What else is on your mind?
Is there one minimum investment that guarantees E-2 eligibility?Is holding money or owning an asset enough for E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.