Read the general investor planning overview
Hypothetical example: an investor from Inverness County looks at a United States commercial laundry whose revenue comes almost entirely from hotel contracts. E-2 requires a real and operating enterprise that is not marginal, meaning one that does more than provide a minimal living for the investor and family. Customer concentration does not by itself make a business marginal, but it does make the evidence about earnings and capacity more important. Hypothetical example: A fish-feed producer considers acquiring an American distribution business whose largest customer is due to renew in six months. The decision is whether the enterprise evidence can show a real nonmarginal operation, not merely whether the seller's recent revenue is attractive. The first review should reconcile customer contracts, expenses, staffing, and the total acquisition cost. E-2 funds must be committed in a way that exposes them to commercial loss, and the investor must direct and develop the enterprise.
Test earning capacity, not just current profit
Marginality looks at whether the enterprise has the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living, or otherwise makes a significant economic contribution. A business with several employees on payroll and contracts in place is describing capacity through its structure, and the records should show it: payroll registers, contracts with terms and renewal dates, tax returns for several years, and equipment capacity. Where present earnings are thin, a five-year projection can support the case, but it must rest on stated assumptions a reader can test, not on optimism. The reader must decide whether projected earnings are grounded in records. Compare contracts, invoices, bank deposits, payroll, and tax returns to the forecast. If a renewal is uncertain, model a downside case rather than quietly carrying the seller's assumption forward. The decision is stronger when staffing and cash needs still make sense under a conservative scenario.
Examine what concentration does to the evidence
If most revenue comes from a few contracts, obtain those contracts and read their termination and renewal clauses. Ask how long each relationship has run and whether it survives a change of ownership, because some agreements do not. Ask what happens to the projections if the largest contract ends. None of this is an immigration requirement in itself, but a projection that ignores an obvious risk is easy to discount, and a buyer who has already thought it through can present a plan that holds up. It is also, straightforwardly, the commercial question the buyer should be asking anyway. The reader must decide whether customer concentration changes the investment risk. Obtain the top-customer agreements, renewal history, termination clauses, and explanation of how replacement sales would be obtained. Concentration does not automatically defeat E-2, but it can make the evidence about future capacity and business resilience much more important.
Reconcile the seller's numbers before they matter
Set the tax returns beside the bank statements beside the payroll registers and see whether the three describe the same business. Deposits are not revenue, because they include transfers between accounts, customer refunds reversed and loan advances. Payroll registers reveal how many people the enterprise really supports, at what cost, and whether the staff count in the sales material survives contact with the records. Where the figures disagree, ask the seller for the reconciliation rather than quietly choosing the most flattering version. A buyer who does this before closing knows what they are buying, and the very same reconciliation is what the immigration file will need in any event. The reader must decide whether the purchase price and uses of funds are verified. Reconcile the seller's statements to source documents and identify obligations that will remain after closing. The purchase agreement, equipment inventory, lease, and transfer records should tell the same commercial story. Money left freely available to the investor is not the same as capital committed to the enterprise.
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.