IN THIS GUIDE · Separating a prepaid customer contract from the investor’s E-2 contribution
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Identify what the customer payment purchases
Read the agreement’s scope, delivery milestones, refund provisions and conditions. A payment for future services is not automatically an ownership investment or the investor’s personal contribution. Explain the actual transaction with accounting and legal assistance where necessary. Keep the customer contract separate from shareholder funding agreements even when the money enters the same business account. Trace the payment from customer to business ledger and match it against the service obligation. A refundable advance can support a revenue analysis without becoming the investor's capital.
Show the investor’s own commitment
Document the investor’s lawful funding source, transfers and qualifying business commitments. E-2 requires substantial at-risk investment relative to the enterprise, with no universal dollar minimum. A substantial customer balance does not by itself prove that requirement. Ask how any proposed funding arrangement is treated rather than changing the label of a receipt to make the total appear larger. Do not treat a line of credit, a promised loan or an untouched bank balance as equivalent to a business outlay already exposed to loss. The security terms and release conditions determine who bears the loss.
Demonstrate capacity to perform and continue
Set out the people, systems and costs needed to deliver the prepaid work. Then explain the basis for continued business after that contract ends. Non-marginality can involve the applicable capacity beyond minimal family support or significant economic contribution. Treat customer demand as evidence to analyze, not a guarantee that the enterprise meets the standard. Revenue scenarios should show both the prepaid contract and the period after it. A plan that omits replacement customers, operating costs or hiring assumptions cannot show why the enterprise will avoid marginality.
Keep the founder’s role and status clear
Describe how the investor directs service delivery, staffing, pricing and further customer development. Confirm qualifying nationality and ownership; residence in Quebec is not the treaty test. A signed customer contract does not authorize the investor to perform U.S. work. Plan the commercial commitment and immigration process together without promising either approval or a fixed starting date. Sequence commercial commitments before the status-dependent work. The investor may plan, negotiate and preserve records, but should obtain advice before personally performing the U.S. operating work described in the plan.
Verify nationality and lawful invested capital
E-2 is available to nationals of a treaty country, which includes Canada, who have invested or are actively investing a substantial amount of capital in a bona fide U.S. enterprise and who will develop and direct it.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.