IN THIS GUIDE · The investor has a small passive ownership share elsewhere
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Name the enterprise the application is about
The application concerns a real operating commercial enterprise in the United States that the applicant will genuinely develop and direct. A minority holding in an unrelated company, carrying no management role, is a portfolio asset rather than the qualifying enterprise. Describe it plainly instead of folding it into the business plan. Owning a company does not by itself authorize the owner to perform work in the United States.
Trace the source and path of the money
A statement showing a balance is not enough: the file needs the lawful original source and the path into the enterprise. If the passive stake is sold or distributes profits, keep the purchase and sale documents, distribution resolutions, tax records and each transfer confirmation, including currency conversion. Gaps can usually be filled with further records, so identify weak links early rather than assuming the point is lost.
Evidence genuine development and direction
Document share ownership, decision-making authority, and the planned directing role in the E-2 enterprise. A passive stake elsewhere does not establish those functions. Canadian citizenship meets the applicant nationality element in this example but does not replace the other requirements; the enterprise must have the relevant treaty nationality, with at least fifty percent qualifying ownership.
Test non-marginality on the U.S. business alone
Non-marginality is assessed on the U.S. enterprise, not on the household's other assets. Dividends from an unrelated company do not repair a plan that cannot generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family. Present the enterprise's present or future capacity, or its significant economic contribution, with the assumptions behind the figures. Substantial capital is judged against this enterprise's total cost and must be genuinely at risk.
A limited partnership interest and a treaty investment are built for opposite purposes
Passive interests are structured so the holder cannot direct, which is exactly what makes them unsuitable as the qualifying enterprise. A limited partnership unit, a silent partnership, a profit share under a joint-venture contract: each can produce income while leaving control somewhere else by design. That design suits a portfolio and defeats an E-2 application, because the investor must develop and direct the business and the enterprise itself needs at least fifty percent qualifying treaty ownership. Converting a passive holding into an operating one means the paperwork changes too — an amended partnership agreement, a fresh shareholders’ agreement, a directorship entered in the register, signing authority added to the bank mandate. Identify which document confers each power.
Money that is available is not yet money that is committed
Availability and irrevocable commitment describe two states of the same funds. E-2 requires capital irrevocably committed to the enterprise and genuinely at risk, so a balance resting in the investor’s own account has not met that condition however large it is or however clearly it has been earmarked, since nothing prevents its withdrawal tomorrow for another purpose. Escrow arrangements releasing funds to the business on approval and returning them only if the application fails are commonly used, and it is the wording of the release and refund clauses, rather than the existence of an account, that shapes how the commitment is assessed. Assemble what shows the money leaving the investor’s control — signed lease, equipment purchase orders, supplier contracts — alongside the escrow agreement.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.