A founder’s personal investment and a Canadian company’s operating budget should not be treated as one undifferentiated source. Identify the actual investor, ownership and lawful funding steps before assessing what is committed to the U.S. enterprise. Use this guide as a decision tool for the E-2 investment commitment, not as a checklist that supplies a conclusion by itself. Start with a dated table of the parties, ownership or family links, proposed activity, money, locations, and the document supporting each item. The first review should produce a timeline, a list of unresolved assumptions, and a short statement of the decision the reader must make before taking the next step. Hypothetical example: a maker of adaptive garden tools uses a personal line of credit, a refundable franchise deposit, and a seller-financed equipment purchase. The reader must decide whether the presently documented arrangement fits the selected route, or whether the facts point to a different route or a pause for more evidence. Place original records before summaries, identify who had authority to make each commitment, and separate completed transactions from future plans. The investor's capital must be committed beyond easy withdrawal and exposed to commercial loss. The enterprise must be real and not marginal, while the investor must develop and direct it; E-2 itself does not provide a permanent-residence outcome. A favourable label, a letter of intent, or a commercial deadline cannot replace the condition that governs the route. Recheck the analysis when any material fact changes. Keep a decision memo identifying the last verified fact, the next required record, and the event that would require the reader to stop and reassess.
Identify whose funds are being used
Hypothetical example: the founder considers using a corporate distribution for a personal acquisition while the company plans its own expansion. Keep the proposals separate and document the actual transaction. Access to an operating account does not by itself make the company’s balance the founder’s personal capital. Make the reader choose between the records that prove the present fact and the materials that merely predict a later event.
Trace commitment and financing accurately
Provide lawful source and path, transfer records and purchase or escrow conditions. Personally secured or unsecured borrowing may qualify under applicable rules; enterprise-asset-secured debt does not count as the investor’s qualifying investment. Separate fees and future funding from actual committed capital at risk. No universal fixed E-2 minimum applies. Where two explanations compete, preserve the document created closest to the event and explain the discrepancy rather than smoothing it over.
Review control and the enterprise
Assess qualifying treaty nationality, ownership, substantiality and a real nonmarginal business the applicant will develop and direct. A transfer plan for a different company does not establish these investment facts. Have the actual selected transaction and U.S. activities reviewed before assuming a payment or ownership document permits work. Before acting, state the concrete decision, the missing condition, and the next record needed to resolve it.
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.