Questions investors ask.

There is no fixed minimum in the statute or the regulations. The test is proportionality: the investment must be substantial relative to the total cost of buying or building your specific business, and the business must be more than marginal. A consulting practice might qualify on a modest sum fully committed; a manufacturing operation demands far more. What decides cases is not the headline number but whether the money is real, traceable, at risk, and sufficient to make the enterprise operational.

The treaty list is the whole ballgame: without a qualifying treaty there is no E-2, which rules out nationals of India, China, Brazil, and Vietnam among others. The alternatives are the O-1A for people with a strong record, the International Entrepreneur Rule for funded founders, the L-1 for executives transferring from a foreign affiliate, and the H-1B where the lottery allows. One caution: acquiring a treaty passport through a citizenship-by-investment program triggers a three-year domicile requirement before it can support an E-2.

As long as the enterprise operates and qualifies. Admissions run two years at a time, extensions come in two-year increments with no overall cap, and the visa itself can be issued for up to five years depending on your country's reciprocity schedule. Decades on E-2 status are common. The discipline is that every renewal re-proves the case.

Your spouse may work incident to status, with no separate work permit required. Children under 21 may live and study in the United States but may not work, and they age out of E-2 dependency at 21, which is worth planning for early. Spouses and children take E-2 dependent status regardless of their own nationality.

Yes, and acquisitions are some of the cleanest E-2 cases, because the enterprise already has books, staff, and history. The purchase price generally serves as the investment, escrow can protect you by releasing funds only when the visa is issued, and the file focuses on source of funds and your plan for the business. Franchises add the franchisor's agreements and fees to the record, and the established format often helps.

They do different jobs. A consular application registers the enterprise and produces a visa you can travel on. A change of status through USCIS produces two years of status quickly, with premium processing available, but no visa, so your first trip abroad sends you to the consulate anyway. Which door is right turns on where you are, whether you must travel, and how fast operations need to start. We make that call deliberately at the start of every case.

Not by itself; it is a nonimmigrant status that requires intent to depart. But E-2 investors move to permanent residence all the time, most often through EB-5, EB-1A for those with an extraordinary record, or the EB-2 national interest waiver. Timing and forum matter, so the green card conversation should start years before you want the card.