An online model is not exempt from the ordinary E-2 requirements. It needs a real commercial enterprise, substantial committed capital, qualifying nationality and control, and evidence that it is more than marginal.
Show operations beyond the website
Explain the offering, customers, delivery system and the U.S. entity’s actual function. Digital tools or overseas contractors may be part of the model, but their roles must be clear.
A domain, incorporation and speculative sales forecast are not enough by themselves. Assess the genuine cost and commitment of the enterprise rather than assuming a low-overhead model requires no meaningful investment. The failure mode is treating low overhead as a lower standard.
Hypothetical example: an engineering-software venture incorporates in the United States, buys a domain and a subscription toolchain, and presents a forecast built on projected licence sales with no signed customer. Nothing there is dishonest and nothing establishes a real, operating enterprise. The earliest signal is a case in which every substantive fact is projected rather than completed.
Explain the offering, the customers, the delivery system and the U.S. entity actual function, and identify which resources are committed. The requirements do not soften for a digital model: the investment must be substantial in proportion to the enterprise, irrevocably committed and at risk, the enterprise must be real, operating and not marginal, and the investor must develop and direct it.