E-2 visa investment amount: no legal minimum, and no green card at the end

No US rule sets a minimum E-2 investment, so the only fixed amounts on this route are government fees, such as the visa fee shown above; officers weigh the money you have already committed, and put at risk, against what the business costs. If the goal is a green card, the E-2 is the wrong purchase, because it is a temporary visa that requires you to intend to leave.

Someone who wants to live in the United States permanently can put a large sum into an E-2 business and still have no route to permanent residence through it. The E-2 is a nonimmigrant classification, and the regulation requires every treaty investor to intend to depart when the status ends. A green card needs a separate immigrant route, such as an employer's petition, the EB-5 investor program, or a petition by a brother or sister who is a citizen. For petitions of that preference kind, the regulation adds only that one filed or approved is not, on its own, grounds to refuse an E-2 stay.

What the E-2 does give is renewable time. Investors are admitted for up to two years, extensions come in steps of up to two years, and the regulation sets no limit on their number while the business keeps qualifying.

How "substantial" is judged

The State Department's manual for consular officers says no set dollar figure is the minimum. Officers compare what you invest with the cost of the business: its purchase price if it exists, or what it takes to make it operational if it is new. The lower that cost, the larger the share you are expected to cover; a very expensive business can qualify on a smaller share. The business must also be more than marginal, able to earn more than a minimal living for you and your family, now or within five years, or to make a significant economic contribution.

Three conditions matter most once a purchase is under way:

• The money must already be committed. Funds waiting in a bank account, or a deal still being negotiated, do not count. A purchase made conditional on the visa can still qualify when the money is held in escrow and released only once the visa is issued.
• It must be at risk. A loan secured on the business's own assets does not count toward the investment; one secured on your personal assets, such as a second mortgage on your home, can.
• You must control it. You need the nationality of a country with a qualifying treaty, and control normally shown by owning at least half of the business.

If your purchase agreement would pay the seller before the visa decision, with no escrow, do not sign it as written: a refusal could leave you owning a US business you have no visa to come and run.

What to ask before you pay

Next to the investment, the state's charges here are minor, which is exactly why they can disappear inside a single lump-sum quote.

Paid to the US government:

• The visa application fee shown above, per person, at the embassy or consulate.
• A reciprocity issuance fee for some nationalities, set country by country.
• If you are already in the United States and change status instead, USCIS charges the petition fee and an asylum program fee, both lower for small employers. A spouse or child changing status files an application of their own, with its own fee, and a change of status gives no visa, so the consular fee is still paid at the first trip abroad.

Charged by firms:

• The immigration lawyer's fee, a business broker's commission, and any business-plan or valuation fee.

Questions for the lawyer, the broker and yourself:

1. Is your nationality on the State Department's list of E-2 treaty countries?
2. What does the business cost to buy or open, and what share are you paying from your own funds?
3. Will the money wait in escrow until the visa is issued, or reach the seller first?
4. Is any part of it borrowed against the business itself?
5. Do you want a green card eventually, and what separate route would lead there?

An immigration lawyer's fee quote or an E-2 consultant's proposal can go through the box: answer yes to its first question, and every line is weighed against the published US rules for this visa and against the prices firms on file publish for it. No paperwork yet? Answer no and type the total you were quoted. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to an immigration attorney or an accredited representative.

General information, not legal advice.