Read the general investor planning overview
A valuation report explains what a business might be worth. It does not say what the buyer has committed, where those funds came from, or which entity received them — and those are the questions E-2 actually asks.
Identify each financial measure
Four numbers get confused with one another, and only one of them is qualifying capital. There is the valuation, which is an opinion; the asking price, which is a negotiating position; the consideration actually stated in the executed agreement; and the capital irrevocably committed to the enterprise and placed at risk. Hypothetical example: an independent report values a landscaping contractor well above the agreed price, and the buyer’s summary quietly adopts the higher figure as the size of the investment. Set all four out on one page with their sources and dates, and note who prepared each and on whose instructions. The gap between valuation and price is often the most informative part of the file — it may reflect a motivated seller, or assets that are not being transferred at all — and a gap that has been explained makes every other number easier to credit.
Preserve commitment and authority
Then test each committed dollar against the conditions that decide whether it counts. The investor must hold treaty-country nationality, and the enterprise must ordinarily be at least half owned by nationals of that same treaty country, traced through to the individuals rather than stopping at a holding company’s name. The funds must be the investor’s own, lawfully sourced with a documented path, substantial in relation to this particular business, and irrevocably committed — spent, or held in an escrow that releases only on visa issuance and is genuinely irrevocable on its own terms — rather than merely promised. The investor must be the person who develops and directs the enterprise, which ordinarily means ownership of at least half of the enterprise or an equivalent measure of operational control. Because there is no universal minimum figure to reach, substantial is measured against what this business actually costs to buy and to run, which is precisely where an honest valuation earns its place.
Assess the real enterprise and financing
Money spent is not the same as money that counts, and a few categories are routinely miscounted. Professional charges — the valuation itself, legal fees, accounting work, the immigration engagement — are costs of preparing a transaction rather than capital committed to an operating enterprise, and they belong on a separate line instead of being folded into the total. Where any part of the price is financed, collateral decides the treatment: borrowing the investor carries personally, unsecured or secured only on assets already owned outside the business, may be assessed on its own terms, while debt secured by the enterprise’s own assets is excluded even where personal property also stands behind it. The enterprise must be real and operating, neither a shell nor marginal: capable of producing more than a minimal living for the investor and family, or of making a significant economic contribution, with any future capacity ordinarily realised within about five years of normal trading. Beyond that, the capital stays at risk, no fixed minimum applies, an intention to depart when the status ends remains necessary, a Canadian applicant generally needs the E visa itself, and signing the purchase agreement grants no permission to start 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.