E-2: the visa for founders who put their own money at risk

The E-2 is a temporary visa for an investor who has put a substantial amount of capital into a real US business and will direct it.

The first question is nationality, not money. The investor must be a national of a country with a qualifying treaty of commerce and navigation with the US, and at least 50% of the business must be owned by nationals of that country. The State Department publishes the list; Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Türkiye are on it. Iran is not: the US gave notice terminating the 1955 Treaty of Amity in October 2018, and since January 2020 E-1 and E-2 are no longer available to Iranian nationals.

The law sets no figure. The investment is compared with the total cost of establishing or buying that particular business: a low-cost business needs a higher share of its total cost invested, an expensive one a lower share.

Any number you hear as "the E-2 minimum" is an attorney's experience, not the law. What makes the case is how well the capital matches the business plan.

• At risk: the money must be spent or irrevocably committed — lease, equipment, hires, inventory. Funds sitting in a bank account are not an investment.
• Owned and controlled: the funds must belong to the investor and be under their control. Gifted funds are acceptable when ownership has genuinely passed to you and the source is documented. Loans secured by the business's own assets do not count.
• Real and operating: a business that produces goods or services. Passive investment — land, shares — is not enough.
• Not marginal: the business must have the capacity to earn more than a living for the investor and family, or make a significant economic contribution, such as jobs.

The E-2 has no direct path to a green card, and the holder must intend to depart when status ends.

Many founders enter on an E-2 and build an EB-1A or EB-2 NIW case in parallel. The strategy is common, but not free. A filed immigrant petition cannot on its own be the reason to deny E status, but at the next consular renewal the officer still has to be satisfied that the intent to depart exists, and that gets harder once a petition is on file. Time the two with your attorney.

An Iranian passport cannot support an E-2, and non-immigrant visa issuance to Iranian nationals is currently suspended in any case. An Iranian who has become a Canadian citizen, however, qualifies on the Canadian passport.

That is why, for most founders we work with, the realistic order is Canada first, then Canadian citizenship, then the US. Dual nationals should have both passports reviewed by a US attorney before acting.