IN THIS GUIDE · Ask the seller the questions the consulate will ask you
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Ask what is being sold and who owns it
Request the entity documents, the asset list with titles for vehicles and equipment, the premises lease and its assignment terms, the service contracts and whether they survive a change of ownership, and any liens registered against the assets. A business whose trucks are financed and whose lease cannot be assigned is worth less than the price suggests, and the E-2 analysis looks at what the buyer will own and control after closing, not at what the seller's brochure describes. Ask for three years of tax returns and payroll records, because the marginality and staffing analysis rests on them.
Ask who will hold the licence
Most states require an electrical or HVAC contractor to be licensed and often require a qualifying individual to hold the licence for the business. A Quebec licence does not transfer, and the buyer may not be eligible to sit the state examination immediately. Ask the seller whether the current qualifier is an employee who will stay, whether the licence can be maintained through that person during the transition, and what the state board requires on a change of ownership. A business that loses its licence at closing is not a real operating enterprise, so this answer belongs in the E-2 file, not only in the purchase negotiation.
Commit the funds without leaving them uncommitted
E-2 funds must be irrevocably committed, but a buyer should not hand over the price before the visa is granted. The accepted way to reconcile these is an escrow whose release is conditioned only on visa issuance, so that the money is out of the buyer's control and the deal completes automatically on approval. Ask the seller to accept that structure and document it in the purchase agreement. Funds sitting in the buyer's own account, or a deposit that can be refunded at the buyer's option, are not at risk and do not count.
Confirm control and the business's capacity
The buyer must develop and direct the enterprise, ordinarily through at least fifty percent ownership or operational control. If a U.S. partner will hold shares, fix the percentages and the management rights in writing. Then test marginality: the business must be capable of generating more than a minimal living for the buyer's family, or of making a significant economic contribution, now or within five years. Existing crews and a service-contract base are strong evidence; a one-truck operation that supported only the seller is weak. Explain the investment's substantiality relative to the total cost of buying this particular business, and keep the family's home purchase entirely outside the calculation. E-2 is a nonimmigrant route and offers no direct path to permanent residence.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.