IN THIS GUIDE · Sustaining an E-2 enterprise through an uneven revenue year
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Read the annual figure as twelve separate months
An annual revenue estimate hides the months that decide whether the enterprise survives. Build a month-by-month model showing cash in, fixed obligations and the low point of the working-capital balance. Non-marginality asks whether the business can generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family; a cycle that produces surplus in three months and losses in nine is a different case from one that clears its costs throughout. Show which months the model relies on. Then run the same model twice, once on the seller's historic figures and once on the buyer's assumptions, and mark every line where they differ. Where a projection depends on a season that has not happened yet, say so in the document instead of presenting it as an established figure.
Commit capital sized to the trough, not the peak
A substantial investment must be committed and irrevocably at risk in a real, active enterprise, and there is no published dollar threshold to reach. For a cyclical operation, the relevant test includes whether the capital actually placed in the business covers equipment, premises, inventory and the months when payroll runs ahead of receipts. Reserves held back in a personal account are not invested funds. Decide early how much moves into the business and when. Committed and at risk means the money must actually be exposed to loss in the enterprise, not held back for a later decision. Funds sitting in an escrow that returns to the investor if the case is refused are generally treated differently from funds already spent on stock, fit-out and wages, and the distinction deserves a lawyer's attention before any transfer is made.
Explain how the investor directs the off-season
Developing and directing an enterprise is a year-round responsibility, so describe what the investor personally does when the sales floor is quiet: supplier negotiation, hiring, maintenance, marketing for the next cycle, financial control. If staff are laid off seasonally, say who remains and who signs. Off-season absences from the United States should be explained as part of the operating plan rather than left for an officer to infer from gaps. Develop and direct is a control test rather than a diligence test. It generally requires ownership of at least half the enterprise or operational control through another mechanism, so the ownership documents should be readable on that point without explanation. Where a partner or a family member holds part of the business, set out who decides what, in writing, before the structure is fixed.
Keep financing structure and household needs honest
If borrowing funds part of the purchase, distinguish debt secured by the business assets from debt for which the investor is personally liable; the difference affects whether the money counts as at risk, and it deserves a lawyer's review rather than an assumption that loans are barred. Household living costs across the slow months belong in a separate plan. E-2 is a nonimmigrant category and confers no permanent residence, so long-term family plans need their own analysis. Keep a written note of which household costs are funded from personal resources and which from the business, because that line is what a non-marginality discussion turns on later. A plan that quietly draws the year's living costs from the enterprise's peak-season cash reduces the capital doing work in the business, and the effect compounds across a second slow year.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.