Treaty classification
E-2 Treaty Investor
E-2 requires treaty-country nationality, a substantial investment that is irrevocably committed and at risk, a real and operating commercial enterprise, and evidence the enterprise is more than marginal. The evidentiary spine is financial: a traceable source-of-funds chain from origin to deployment, which is precisely the kind of multi-document chronology that manual assembly handles badly.
Governing standard
Substantial investment in a real and operating enterprise by a treaty national
8 CFR 214.2(e); 9 FAM 402.9
- Denial rate after RFE
- 19.8%
- Median processing
- 79 days
- Form
- I-129
- Initial RFE rate
- 22.4%
- Median exhibit pages
- 210
- Manual assembly
- 12 hrs
- On Docket Build
- 30 min
Statutory criteria
What the record has to establish.
Each element below is a mapped criterion in the Docket Build criteria pack, with its citation and the evidence types that satisfy it.
Treaty nationality
214.2(e)(3)
- Passport
- Ownership documents establishing nationality of the enterprise
Substantial investment at risk
9 FAM 402.9-6
- Wire transfers
- Bank statements
- Purchase agreements
- Proportionality analysis
Real and operating enterprise
214.2(e)(12)
- Lease
- Licences
- Payroll
- Customer contracts
- Website and marketing
Not marginal
9 FAM 402.9-6(E)
- Five-year business plan
- Job creation projections
- Financial statements
Develop and direct
214.2(e)(15)
- Ownership percentage
- Board control
- Management role evidence
Failure modes
What actually draws a request on a E-2.
Compiled from the request language our customers record on their own matters and from published AAO decisions in this classification.
Full RFE trends hub- Source-of-funds chain with an unexplained intermediate account
- Investment funds still held in a personal account rather than committed
- Business plan projections unsupported by the actual financial record
- Ownership documents that do not reconcile to the claimed treaty nationality percentage
Document checklist
What a complete filing carries.
Full printable checklist →Nationality and ownership
Passports of all owners
Establishing at least 50% treaty-country ownership
Cap table and share certificates
Reconciling to the claimed ownership percentage
Source and path of funds
Source of funds documentation
Origin, accumulation and lawful provenance
Wire transfer records
Unbroken chain from source account to the enterprise
Purchase or lease agreements
Showing funds irrevocably committed
Escrow or closing statementswhere applicable
Where a business was acquired
Enterprise operations
Commercial lease
Physical premises for the operation
Licences and registrations
State, local and industry-specific
Payroll records and employee listwhere applicable
Supporting the non-marginality argument
Five-year business plan
With job creation projections and financial model
Also treaty
Related classifications.
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