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A vehicle, computer or other asset used partly for personal purposes needs careful treatment. Establish ownership, business use, value and actual contribution before counting it. The decision is not whether the item is useful to the founder, but what supported capital has genuinely been committed to the investment enterprise.
Describe the asset and its use
Identify the item, owner, acquisition cost and proposed business function. Separate personal use from the enterprise’s actual needs. Keep purchase records and documents showing how the asset becomes available to the business. Counsel should assess the countable contribution rather than assume that every possession brought to the United States becomes investment capital at its original retail price.
Support the amount without duplication
Use appropriate value evidence and explain any age, condition or financing affecting the item. If the enterprise reimburses the founder for an asset, trace that payment and avoid counting both the asset and the same reimbursement as separate contributions. Maintain a schedule that connects each claimed amount to one actual investment event and its supporting records.
Keep household spending outside the business narrative
Personal relocation, accommodation and living expenses need a separate budget. Calling them startup costs does not establish E-2 investment treatment. Review genuine business assets on their facts and preserve evidence of their commercial purpose. The resulting capital schedule should make the distinction understandable without implying that a particular asset value guarantees substantiality for the enterprise.
Describe the asset and quantify the business use
Where an item is used partly by the enterprise and partly personally, the description has to be specific enough for someone else to assess it. State what the asset is, when and how it was acquired and for how much, what proportion of its use is for the business and on what basis that proportion is calculated, and whether the enterprise holds any legal interest in it or merely uses it. A vehicle, premises within a home, tools or equipment each raise the question differently. Where the business use is genuine but partial, an apportionment supported by a record of actual use is more credible than a round percentage asserted without one.
Avoid counting the same value twice
Mixed-use assets create duplication in a schedule more easily than most items, and the duplication is usually invisible to the person who prepared it. Check for the common patterns: an asset included at cost while its running expenses also appear as capital, an item counted both in a purchase price and again as a separately listed contribution, or a proportion attributed to the business while the whole amount remains in the total. Reconcile the schedule against the underlying records rather than against itself. Where an asset was acquired before the enterprise existed, record how and when it was made available to the business, since an item simply used by the owner is in a different position from one contributed to the enterprise.
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.