Read the general investor planning overview
A seller who offers to train the buyer during the transition is describing activity, and activity raises a question separate from whether the investment qualifies. Write down what the buyer would do, where, when and under what status. Eligibility for a category and permission to perform work are decided separately, and a transaction still under negotiation settles neither of them. Separate commercial preparation from work that would advance the enterprise in the United States. The first review should list each planned activity, who benefits, where it occurs, whether it produces revenue or deliverables, and the immigration permission the person would have on that date. That list makes the timing decision visible before travel is booked.
Write the training period down as activities and dates
Describe each proposed week: observing operations, meeting suppliers, serving customers, signing contracts, directing staff. Note where each activity would happen and whether the person is paid, unpaid or receiving a share of results. Presence in a business does not by itself define the activity, and the word training can cover anything from watching to running the shift. The record should be detailed enough that someone else can assess it without having to ask what actually happened. Ask what the activity changes in the business. Observing a seller and receiving general orientation can be different from taking customer orders, directing employees or producing work that the business would otherwise have to buy. The contemporaneous schedule, emails and compensation terms may settle that distinction.
Keep work authorization separate from investment eligibility
Hypothetical example: a Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue buyer expects to spend two months on site before any approval exists. Do not assume that a visitor admission permits productive work, and do not assume the pending transaction supplies permission. Filings, visa issuance, petition approval, admission and effective work authorization are distinct events with distinct dates, and there is no universal rule covering the interval. Ask which of them would need to happen before each planned activity, then change the sequence rather than the description. Hypothetical example: a buyer of a handbound-book repair studio wants to catalogue inventory and accept restoration orders during the seller’s training period. The decision is whether those acts are merely preparatory or productive work, and the answer must be reached before the buyer begins serving customers.
Test the transaction terms alongside the plan
Read the agreement for its conditions: what triggers closing, whether funds sit in escrow, what releases them and what happens if the condition fails. Qualifying escrow arrangements exist, but the label alone does not make an agreement sufficient, and not every refundable deposit counts as committed investment. Substantiality is assessed in relation to the enterprise, which must be real and operating and must meet the non-marginality requirement — an alternative capacity to make a significant economic contribution can be relevant there. The investment evidence should show that funds are committed beyond a reversible promise, exposed to commercial risk and tied to a real operating enterprise. The eventual business must not be marginal, so the agreement, forecast and spending plan should be read together rather than as isolated documents.
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.