FAQs about E-2 Requirements

No. The foreign investor can be hired to work full-time or part-time.

The enterprise cannot be ‘marginal’. The enterprise is considered ‘marginal’ if it does not have the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the foreign investor and his or her family.

No. The foreign investor must be investing in an enterprise that is actually operating.

The investment must be ‘substantial’ considering the amount of qualifying funds invested weighed against the total cost of purchasing or creating the enterprise; the amount normally considered sufficient to ensure the foreign investor’s financial commitment to the successful operation of the enterprise; and a magnitude of investment to support the likelihood that the investor will… Read More

Yes. The funds invested must be under the foreign investor’s control and cannot be obtained directly or indirectly through criminal activity

Yes. The funds, however, must be a gift to the investor from a family member. The funds cannot be a loan to be repaid.

No. The foreign investor must have invested or is in the process of investing in an enterprise. The foreign investor must demonstrate that s/he has irrevocably committed the funds and the funds invested must be ‘at risk’ (subject to total or partial loss if investment fortunes reverse).

The foreign investor must be entering the United States solely to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise.

Yes. The employer must be engaging the foreign investor to work in the United States.

Yes. The foreign investor must be a national of a country that is a party to a friendship, commerce or navigation treaty, bilateral investment treaty or free trade agreement with the United States.