US E-2 investor visa: how much to invest

To qualify for the E-2 investor visa, the applicant must make a substantial investment. The law, however, sets no minimum dollar amount. As a rule of thumb, you should be prepared to invest at least $100,000 in the business to have a good chance of an E-2 visa. The amount actually required depends on the type of business you choose. For some low-cost startups, investments of less than $100,000 may be enough.

A substantial investment is defined as an amount large enough to ensure the investor's financial commitment to the successful operation of the business, measured by the proportionality test. This test compares the total amount invested in the business with the cost of establishing a viable business of the planned type, or with the capital needed to buy an existing business.

This comparison gives you the percentage of the applicant's investment in the business. That percentage is assessed on an inverted sliding scale: a high percentage for a lower-cost business, falling gradually as the cost of the business rises. The US State Department's manual explicitly sets no fixed thresholds; as a rough guide from consular practice, the following orders of magnitude apply:

• 75 percent investment in a business costing $500,000 or less. If the business costs well under $500,000, an investment of 85 to 100 percent may be required.
• 50 percent investment in a business costing more than $500,000 but no more than $3 million.
• 30 percent in a business costing more than $3 million. A multi-million-dollar investment by a large foreign company is generally considered substantial, regardless of the examples above.

The amount invested should be compared with the cost (value) of the business by assessing the investment as a percentage of that cost. If the two figures are equal, the investor has put 100 percent of the required funds into the business. Such an investment is substantial.

In the vast majority of cases, the percentages are lower. The proportionality test is best understood as a kind of inverted sliding scale. The lower the cost of the business, the higher the percentage of investment required, while a very expensive business would need a lower percentage of qualifying investment.

There are no fixed percentages above which an investment counts as substantial. As mentioned, though, the lower the cost of the business, the higher the percentage of qualifying investment must be. A 100 percent investment would normally qualify automatically for a small business worth $100,000 or less. A business of this size with two equal partners or joint ventures can still show it qualifies for an E-2 investor visa. At the other extreme, a $10 million investment in a $100 million business would likely qualify for an E-2 visa because of the sheer size of the business itself.

You will find more about the visa on our E-2 investor visa overview page, in particular on the requirements for the US business and the source of the invested funds.

In short

• The E-2 requires a substantial investment, but the law sets no minimum dollar amount.
• Whether your investment is substantial is decided by the proportionality test: your amount is compared with the cost of starting or buying such a business.
• It works as an inverted sliding scale: the cheaper the business, the higher your share of its cost must be; the more expensive, the lower.

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