IN THIS GUIDE · A small service business that may only support one household
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Marginal does not mean small
The requirement is that the enterprise be real, active and operating, and not one that exists solely to earn a living for the investor and family. A business can be modest in size and still satisfy that, if it has the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living — through employees, through income beyond the household's needs, or through a documented capacity to grow within a reasonable period. The failure is not being a small business; it is being a business whose only economic function is the owner's own income. Ravi and Anjali therefore need to look at what the company does beyond paying its owner. Start with a flow chart from the investor’s lawful earnings, savings, sale, loan, or gift through every transfer to the business. Bank records, sale papers, loan terms, and tax records can connect the steps. The chart often exposes a missing record early enough to obtain it.
The seller's books answer the question, if you ask for enough of them
Financial statements for several years, payroll records, the customer list with contract terms, and the schedule of equipment tell you whether the business supports employees and produces a margin above owner compensation. Pay particular attention to how the current owner is paid, because a sole proprietor's drawings often disguise the difference between wages and profit. Where the seller resists producing records, that is information in itself. A purchase agreement conditioned on satisfactory review of financial records protects a buyer who is making an immigration decision as well as a commercial one. Assess substantiality in relation to the actual cost of buying or establishing this enterprise, not against a universal dollar figure. A signed purchase agreement, invoices, lease obligations, and equipment lists show what has been committed and what remains only an intention.
Capacity to grow has to be evidenced, not asserted
Where present income is thin, the argument usually turns on future capacity within a reasonable time, and that argument is only as good as the plan behind it. A credible plan identifies specific contracts or market segments, the equipment and staff needed to serve them, when each hire happens, and where the money for that comes from. Projections that simply extend a line upward describe optimism. Ravi and Anjali have relevant operating experience, which helps, but the plan has to be about the American company's market rather than about their record in a different country. The business plan should explain why the operation will support more than the investor’s household over time. Revenue assumptions need a link to customers, pricing, capacity, and planned hiring. Unsupported optimism is not a substitute for a credible operating model.
Committed funds and real control, alongside the marginality question
The other conditions do not go away while marginality is being examined. The capital has to be irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk, substantial in relation to the total cost of the enterprise, and lawfully sourced with a documented path. The investors and, through its ownership, the enterprise must have treaty-country nationality; Canada is a treaty country. They must be in a position to develop and direct the enterprise, ordinarily through at least half the ownership or equivalent operational control. E-2 is a nonimmigrant classification and provides no direct path to permanent residence. Each condition is proved separately, and a strong answer on one does not compensate for a weak answer on another. Ownership documents and the proposed job description should show real control. Majority ownership is one way to establish it, but operational authority may also be relevant. The record must demonstrate that the investor will run and advance the enterprise rather than simply hold an investment.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.