IN THIS GUIDE · Keep a shared property sale, a co-investor's role, and the target business as three separate records
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Establish the applicant's actual share of the sale proceeds
Hypothetical example: a LaSalle-area applicant sold a property jointly owned with a sibling and plans to invest their share, together with a nephew's separate contribution, into a laundromat. Document each owner's percentage interest in the original property and the actual amount that reached the applicant personally, distinct from the total sale price.
Read the co-investment agreement for control, not just funding
Identify who will actually develop and direct the business day to day if two people are investing. E-2 requires that the treaty investor personally have the ability to control the enterprise; a passive funding role by either party changes the analysis.
Confirm the business meets the non-marginality requirement
Assess whether the actual laundromat is a real, nonmarginal enterprise, using its operating capacity, staffing and supported financial prospects. A business must have present or future capacity to provide more than a minimal living for the investor and family, or satisfy the applicable significant economic contribution standard; credible future capacity generally should be realizable within five years of normal activity. A modest purchase price neither disqualifies the business nor establishes eligibility. E-2 has no fixed ten-job requirement, but authentic figures and an active role alone do not prove nonmarginality.
Verify nationality and the correct visa process
Confirm the applicant’s treaty nationality and trace the enterprise’s ownership to establish at least 50% ownership by nationals of the relevant treaty country. Reconcile the applicant’s and nephew’s lawful sources and paths of funds with the substantial capital actually committed at risk; substantiality is proportional to the business cost, without a universal minimum. The applicant must develop and direct the enterprise and intend to depart when E status ends. Canadian citizens generally need an E visa; verify the applicable process for the actual nationality and proposal.
Review financing and commitment conditions
The applicant must be in a position to develop and direct the business, which is ordinarily shown by owning at least half of it or by having operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device. The capital must belong to the investor, must be irrevocably committed, and must be genuinely at risk of loss if the business fails; money still sitting in escrow under conditions the buyer alone controls has not yet been placed at risk. Properly structured visa-contingent escrow may qualify, while a freely reversible expression of interest does not establish the same commitment. Purchase deposits released to the seller, an executed agreement that is binding without a further approval, equipment paid for, a lease signed with liability attached, and payments that cannot be recovered if the venture fails are what irrevocable commitment looks like. Where borrowing is involved, distinguish debt secured by the business assets from borrowing backed by personal collateral, and ask counsel to review the specific instrument rather than assuming financing is disqualifying. The capital must be committed rather than merely set aside, exposed to loss, and directed to an enterprise that is not marginal; a forecast should identify the assumptions that support those conclusions.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.