Read the general investor planning overview
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour maintenance contractor acquires 60% of a U.S. industrial-coatings company whose founder keeps 40% and stays as general manager. Treaty nationality and majority ownership are straightforward; the case turns on whether the shareholder agreement leaves the buyer in genuine control and whether the purchase price is irrevocably committed before the consular interview. The financial statements of the existing business carry the substantiality and marginality analysis.
Negotiate the shareholder agreement with the visa in mind
A 40% founder who wants protection will ask for consent rights over budget, borrowing, hiring of senior staff, related-party contracts and distributions. Some protections are ordinary; too many of them convert the buyer's majority into a shared veto structure, and the Foreign Affairs Manual recognizes that agreements can negate the control that ownership would otherwise show. Keep the buyer's authority visible: majority of the board, approval of the annual plan, power to appoint and remove the general manager. Give the founder a management contract with clear delegated authority inside the approved budget. That structure keeps the founder's experience in the business while leaving the developing-and-directing role with the investor.
Put the money beyond recall
The consular officer asks whether the funds are committed and at risk on the day of the interview. Closing before the interview is the cleanest answer. If the buyer will not own a business he may be unable to manage from inside the country, use an escrow whose only release condition is visa issuance and whose only return condition is refusal. Any other condition means the money is still the buyer's. Trace the funds from the sale of the Canadian division through the holding structure to the seller or escrow agent, and document the lawful origin of the division itself. Seller financing that is unsecured or secured on the buyer's personal assets counts; a loan secured on the coatings company's assets does not.
Let the target's numbers prove the business
An operating coatings contractor with crews, blasting equipment, spray booths and industrial customers supplies most of the substantiality and marginality evidence by itself. Provide its financial statements for at least two years, its payroll register showing employees who are not family members, its backlog and its customer list. Substantiality compares the amount invested with the cost of this business; paying the negotiated majority price in full normally satisfies it. Marginality asks whether the enterprise does or will do more than support the investor's family; an existing payroll answers that today. Add a projection that shows what the buyer's direction will change, such as expansion into new industrial customers, without inflating it. Keep reserve funds and the buyer's Canadian revenues out of the investment total.
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.