IN THIS GUIDE · E-2 from Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover: ownership, committed money, and who runs the company
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Nationality is traced to people, not to postal addresses
Both the investor and the enterprise must possess the treaty nationality, and for a company that means tracing ownership through to the individuals who ultimately hold the shares. Nationals of the treaty country must hold at least fifty per cent. A Quebec holding company does not confer Canadian nationality on itself; the question is who owns the holding company. Dual nationals, trusts and family arrangements all need to be set out rather than summarised, and the chart should show percentages that add to one hundred. This is also the point at which an otherwise attractive partnership can quietly disqualify the enterprise, so the ownership table is worth drawing before heads of terms are signed rather than after the deposit has cleared.
Committed and at risk, which is not the same as spent
Capital counts when it has been irrevocably committed to the enterprise and exposed to partial or total loss. Money sitting in an escrow the buyer may cancel at will has not been committed. Funds obtained by a loan secured only against the assets of the business being purchased are generally not treated as the investor’s own capital at risk, because the risk sits with the lender rather than with the investor. A personal loan secured on assets the investor already owns is a different matter. Substantiality is assessed proportionally against the total cost of buying or creating the enterprise: a modest sum can be substantial for a small service business and plainly insufficient for a manufacturing acquisition. Keep the wire confirmations, the escrow instructions and the closing statement, because these are the documents that answer the question.
Real, operating and not marginal
The enterprise must be an active commercial undertaking producing goods or services, not an idle holding of property or a speculative position. It must also be more than marginal, meaning it must have the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family, ordinarily demonstrated over about five years. A business plan carries this element: realistic revenue projections, a staffing schedule with dates, and an explanation grounded in the trading history of the business being bought. Where the enterprise is new, the plan does more work and needs more support. Where an existing business is being acquired, its own accounts, tax filings and customer contracts are usually better evidence than any projection.
Control, family, and the limit of the category
Developing and directing the enterprise ordinarily means holding at least fifty per cent or otherwise possessing operational control, and a passive minority stake will not support the classification. The spouse of an E-2 principal is employment-authorized incident to status and may work for any employer, subject to licensing. Unmarried children under 21 accompany as derivatives and may study but may not work. The most important structural point is easy to miss in the excitement of a purchase: E-2 provides no direct path to permanent residence. It can be renewed for as long as the qualifying investment and the treaty relationship continue, and it can be maintained for many years, but it does not itself lead anywhere else, and a family that wants permanence needs a separate plan.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.