US E-2 Investor Visa: List of Treaty Countries

The investor, whether an individual or a company, must be a national of a treaty country as defined for this visa. A company's treaty nationality is determined by the nationality of its individual owners, not by where the company is managed or registered. Below you'll find a list of the countries that have signed an E-2 treaty with the United States. 

Here you can find out which US states are especially popular with foreign investors, and why. All the other requirements, such as the size of the investment and the source of funds, are covered on our overview page for the E-2 investor visa.

FOOTNOTES

1. REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN): Under Section 6 of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), Public Law 96-8, 93 Stat. 14, and Executive Order 12143, 44 F.R. 37191, this treaty, concluded with the Taiwanese authorities before January 01, 1979, is administered on a nongovernmental basis by the American Institute in Taiwan. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has no E-2 treaty with the United States.

2. CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAK REPUBLIC: The treaty with the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic entered into force on December 19, 1992; it entered into force for the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic as separate states on January 01, 1993.

3. FRANCE: The treaty, which entered into force on December 21, 1960, applies to the departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Réunion.

4. JAPAN: The treaty, which entered into force on October 30, 1953, was applied to the Bonin Islands on June 26, 1968, and to the Ryukyu Islands on May 15, 1972.

5. NETHERLANDS: The treaty, which entered into force on December 05, 1957, applies to Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.

6. NORWAY: The treaty, which entered into force on September 13, 1932, does not apply to Svalbard (Spitsbergen and certain smaller islands).

7. SPAIN: The treaty, which entered into force on April 14, 1903, applies to all territories.

8. SURINAME: The treaty with the Netherlands, which entered into force on December 05, 1957, became applicable to Suriname on February 10, 1963.

9. UNITED KINGDOM: The convention, which entered into force on July 03, 1815, applies only to British territory in Europe (the British Isles (except the Republic of Ireland), the Channel Islands and Gibraltar) and to "inhabitants" of that territory. As used in the convention, this term means "one who resides actually and permanently in a given place and has his domicile there". To qualify for treaty trader or treaty investor status under this treaty, the applicant must also be a national of the United Kingdom. Nationals of Commonwealth members other than the United Kingdom are not entitled to treaty trader or treaty investor status under this treaty.

10. YUGOSLAVIA: The United States considers that the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) has dissolved and that its successor states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) remain bound by the treaty that was in force with the SFRY at the time of its dissolution.

11. ISRAEL: The basis is Public Law 112-130 of June 08, 2012. E-2 status for Israeli nationals has applied since May 01, 2019, allowing them to apply for the E-2 visa. 

12. BOLIVIA: The Bolivian government terminated the bilateral investment treaty between the United States and Bolivia effective June 10, 2012, and the treaty ceased to be in force on June 10, 2012. For investments already in place on June 10, 2012, it continued to apply for another 10 years; that transition period expired on June 10, 2022. Since that date, the E-2 visa has no longer been open to Bolivian nationals. Post must request an advisory opinion from CA/VO if the applicant: (1) has not previously been issued an E-2 visa or acquired E-2 status in the United States, or (2) is applying on the basis of an investment in a commercial enterprise other than the one identified when the applicant qualified for the most recent E-2 visa or (if there was no previous E-2 visa) the change of nonimmigrant status to E-2.

13. NEW ZEALAND: In August 2018, President Trump signed the KIWI Act, adding New Zealand to the list of treaty countries eligible for E-1 treaty trader and E-2 treaty investor visas. The investor treaty with New Zealand entered into force on June 10, 2019, allowing New Zealand nationals to apply for the E-2 visa.

14. ECUADOR: The bilateral investment treaty between the United States and Ecuador was terminated effective May 18, 2018. The treaty is no longer in force, but it continues to apply for another 10 years, until May 18, 2028, to investments that existed on May 18, 2018. This means Ecuadorian nationals who held qualifying investments in the United States on May 18, 2018 remain eligible for E-2 classification until May 18, 2028. Only Ecuadorian nationals coming to the United States to engage in E-2 activity to develop covered investments made or acquired before May 18, 2018 are currently eligible for the E-2 visa.

15. PORTUGAL: Public Law 117-263 of December 23, 2022 grants Portuguese nationals E-1 and E-2 status, provided Portugal grants US nationals similar status. The State Department has confirmed this: E visas have been issued to Portuguese nationals since March 15, 2024.

In short

• The E-2 requires the investor to be a national of a country that has an E-2 treaty with the US; for companies, what counts is the nationality of the owners, not where the company is based.
• Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands are all on the list of treaty countries.
• Special rules apply to some countries and are set out in the footnotes, for example Taiwan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Israel, New Zealand and Portugal.

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