Read the general investor planning overview
Hypothetical example: Bronwen runs a Minden Hills company that supplies adaptive paddling equipment and runs accessible outdoor programs. She plans to open an American centre offering the same programs, and has been told by two different people that she needs a specific dollar figure to qualify as a treaty investor. There is no such figure. Substantiality is proportional: it is weighed against the total cost of buying an established enterprise or of establishing a new one, so the amount she needs depends entirely on what she is building.
How the proportion is assessed
The comparison is between the capital committed and what the enterprise actually costs. For a purchase, that cost is the price of the going concern; for a start-up, it is what is needed to make the business operational for its purpose. A small service business reaching operational readiness for a modest sum can qualify on a proportionally high commitment, while the same sum against a capital-intensive venture would look inadequate. Bronwen should therefore begin by costing her centre honestly: premises, adapted equipment, vehicles, insurance, staff before revenue arrives. The denominator in that fraction is the number she has been failing to establish.
What counts as committed capital, and what quietly does not
Funds are counted when they are irrevocably committed to the enterprise and genuinely exposed to loss. Money already spent on equipment, on a lease she is personally liable for, on adapting a building, on insurance and on staff engaged before opening all belongs in the schedule with its invoice and its bank entry. Amounts that do not count include a general reserve she could withdraw at any time, funds held against a contingency she controls, and borrowing secured against the assets of the business she is acquiring. Her own household savings kept back for living costs should be identified separately, so that nobody has to guess which pot is which.
The proportion is only half the test
A well-proportioned investment still fails if the enterprise is marginal, meaning it does not have the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and her family. For a programs business the persuasive evidence is a staffing plan with real positions and wages, contracts or letters of intent from school boards, rehabilitation providers or municipal recreation departments, and a revenue build that is tied to those commitments rather than to a market-size estimate. Bronwen must also be coming to develop and direct the business, so the plan should show who runs it day to day and where the decisions are made.
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.