Read the general investor planning overview
A Hudson buyer may receive a single price covering equipment, stock, goodwill and services from the seller. Break down the actual agreement so the E-2 assessment concerns the enterprise being acquired and the capital genuinely committed, rather than an unexplained total. Ask the seller to allocate the price line by line, in the agreement itself rather than in a side note. Which figure attaches to equipment, which to inventory, which to goodwill, and which to help promised after closing? That allocation drives the tax treatment and the immigration analysis at once.
Reconcile the agreement with the transferred assets
Identify the items and rights included in the price, the actual recipient and the conditions attached to the transfer. Hypothetical example: a quoted price includes a later training service and stock whose final quantity is unresolved. Preserve those distinctions in the agreement and records rather than describing everything as equipment already delivered. Payments that remain conditional at closing deserve a separate line. Where part of the price is held back against an inventory count or a training obligation, the buyer has not yet parted with it. Record what was paid, what was promised and on what condition.
Keep price and immigration eligibility distinct
E-2 has no universal fixed minimum purchase price. The investment must be substantial, lawful, committed and at risk in a real nonmarginal enterprise. Explain the source and path of funds and the relationship between the capital and the genuine business. A seller’s valuation does not itself establish substantiality, operating readiness or capacity beyond minimal family living or for a significant economic contribution.
Check the actual control and financing terms
Relevant treaty nationality and qualifying ownership, generally at least 50% relevant treaty-national ownership of the enterprise, remain necessary. The principal must develop and direct it. Enterprise-secured debt does not qualify as investment capital; other financing and a properly structured visa-contingent escrow require assessment of their actual terms. A signed purchase does not independently authorize U.S. work.
Decide what the seller keeps after closing
A price is easier to understand once you know what does not transfer. Sellers frequently retain the premises and grant a lease, keep a supply contract, hold the customer relationships in a separate entity, or reserve a right of first refusal. Each retained item reduces what the buyer controls, and control is what the investor is required to exercise over the enterprise. List the retentions before negotiating the number, since the number should follow from them.
Decide how the balance of the price will be financed
Where part of the price is deferred, the security behind it decides more than the interest rate. Hypothetical example: a buyer of an artisanal cheese distribution business agrees to pay half at closing and half over three years, secured against the business’s own equipment and receivables. Debt secured by the enterprise’s assets does not qualify as investment capital, so the funding structure has to be settled before the offer is signed rather than explained afterwards.
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.