An eligible investor already in lawful nonimmigrant status may have a USCIS Form I-129 change-of-status route. The available procedure depends on the person’s actual circumstances; it is not the same as applying for an E-2 visa abroad.
Check status before choosing the route
Review the current admission record, intended work and travel plans. Investment or company formation does not itself authorize U.S. employment, and filing a request does not automatically permit work.
A later departure can raise separate visa and processing questions. Obtain case-specific review rather than selecting a domestic filing solely because the business is already formed. Trouble in this question usually arrives through a status gap nobody examined.
A person who entered as a visitor and remained while forming a company may no longer hold the lawful nonimmigrant status the domestic route depends on, so the request meant to solve the problem instead documents it. Nationality is the second common break: the treaty requirement runs to the investor, or to owners holding at least half the enterprise, and a share register adjusted after the fact rarely survives scrutiny. Hypothetical example: a tutoring franchise built with a silent partner learns during preparation that treaty nationals hold under half the equity, which is a structural problem rather than a drafting one.
Settle both points before choosing between routes, never afterwards.