Read the general investor planning overview
A Saint-Isidore investor may propose a business whose sales are concentrated in certain periods. Explain the actual operating plan and funding assumptions instead of presenting an annual total as the complete economic picture. Build a month-by-month operating sheet before deciding that the investment is substantial and the enterprise is nonmarginal. Hypothetical example: a heritage seed-cleaning business buys equipment and pays seasonal workers before its first autumn receipts; the investor must decide whether the committed capital and documented cash flow can carry those earlier obligations, rather than treating the projected year-end sales figure as cash already available.
Break the forecast into the periods that matter
Identify when services would be delivered, receipts expected and expenses incurred. Hypothetical example: an annual forecast assumes several months of sales while operating obligations arise earlier. Keep that timing visible and explain the basis for the assumptions without inventing completed revenue. Use contracts, supplier quotations, payroll assumptions and bank records to explain the gap between spending and receipts. The review should identify the month in which the enterprise needs additional cash, the source of that cash and the consequence if a projected sale is delayed.
Connect the plan to the nonmarginality assessment
E-2 requires a real operating nonmarginal enterprise and substantial investment, with capacity beyond minimal family living or for significant economic contribution. A seasonal pattern is not by itself an automatic conclusion either way. The evidence should explain the actual business rather than rely on a universal customer, employee or dollar quota. Decide whether the plan shows a real operating enterprise with a credible path beyond support for the investor’s household. An amount left revocable in the investor’s own account is not a qualifying commitment; the investment must be irrevocably committed and at risk, and the explanation must rest on the particular business rather than a generic annual forecast.
Keep the investment and authority records accurate
Establish lawful source and path and capital committed at risk. Distinguish unrestricted reserves from genuine investment; enterprise-secured debt is not qualifying capital. Review other financing and any visa-contingent escrow on their real terms. The applicant still needs relevant treaty nationality, qualifying ownership and actual development and direction through control. Trace each dollar from its lawful source to the account used for the business, then identify the document that made it subject to commercial risk. This sequence helps distinguish a reserve that may be useful later from capital already committed under a binding business arrangement, and it reveals whether any escrow condition remains material to the decision.
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.