There is no universal E-2 dollar minimum. Begin with the real cost of acquiring or establishing the enterprise, identify qualifying capital actually committed, and assess proportionality, operating readiness and non-marginality. A large balance or a seller’s recommended visa amount cannot replace the business-specific evidence. Budgets also move. A price is renegotiated, a landlord withdraws, equipment costs shift, or an exchange rate changes what a committed sum actually buys. Each of those alters the comparison the analysis depends on, so a budget prepared once and filed away stops describing the transaction it was built for. Treat it as a live document, dated at every revision, with a note of what changed and which evidence the change replaces.
Define the business cost
Prepare a supported acquisition or startup budget using the actual transaction and operating plan. Separate amounts already paid, binding commitments, estimates and personal reserves. The substantiality analysis compares qualifying investment with the enterprise’s cost, rather than testing a single number against an unofficial universal minimum. Keep quotations and agreements that explain how the budget was constructed.
Test the money being counted
Connect each proposed capital item to its lawful source, ownership and commercial commitment. Review loans, escrow, equipment and other non-cash items under their applicable rules. Do not count future expenditure as though it has already been paid or count the same money when it passes through multiple accounts. Counsel should evaluate disputed items before the total is relied upon.
Assess what the budget enables
The investment must support a real enterprise that the investor will develop and direct, with the required non-marginality evidence. Explain how premises, resources, customers and staffing fit together. Government and professional charges also need budgeting, but they are not a substitute for commercial capital. A spending plan can support eligibility without guaranteeing business success or visa issuance.
Revisions that change the analysis
Revising a figure is easy; noticing that the revision matters is the harder discipline. A reduction in the purchase price raises the proportion of the total that has been committed, which can help, while an increase in the enterprise’s overall cost can pull the same committed sum below what substantiality requires. Money returned from a failed deposit ceases to be at risk until it is committed again. A change in the staffing plan or the customer arrangement touches non-marginality rather than substantiality, so it needs different evidence. Currency movement changes the number without changing the commitment, and should be explained rather than silently restated. After each revision, ask which of the conditions the change touches, and refresh only the evidence attached to that condition.
Rebuilding a budget after the deal changes
Transactions rarely close on the terms first modelled. Hypothetical example: A founder preparing a trade-finance advisory business budgets around acquiring an existing book of clients, then the seller withdraws and the plan becomes a startup built from nothing. Almost every element of the earlier work now describes a transaction that no longer exists: the acquisition cost, the operating history relied upon, the customer evidence and the staffing assumptions. What survives is the source-of-funds record, which remains valuable. Rather than editing the old budget, rebuild it for the new enterprise and keep the superseded version, clearly marked, so the file shows an honest history rather than an unexplained change of figures. Then ask counsel whether the substantiality and non-marginality analysis reaches the same conclusion on the new facts.
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.