E2 visa for the United States: Eligible investments

Identifying eligible investment classes is critical to applying for the E2 - Investor visa and investing in the U.S.

No less important for increasing the chances of obtaining a visa is planning the timing of investments

Practical aspects on making the investment necessary to apply for and obtain the E2 Investor visa for the U.S.: Planning the investment is the key to obtaining the E2 visa. On other pages of this site we have discussed in detail what the U.S. immigration regulations say about investment aimed at obtaining the E2 visa. In this part of the ExportUSA site, however, we want to focus on the practical aspects of how to plan and implement the investment for the E2.

Investing in the United States: Planning the Investment

One investor's testimony on the importance of the business plan and the need to plan the stages of the investment to facilitate the E2 visa application

The bottom line, in terms of investment planning, is to determine which items fall under the definition of investment according to U.S. Immigration. This is important because each investor has a different profile, and it is therefore necessary to understand whether or not the items that make up the budgeted investment fall within those eligible for the U.S. investor visa application.

Temporal Aspect of Investment in the E2 visa application

The second element to be carefully considered is the time profile of the investment. The file for obtaining an E2 Investor visa for the United States can only be submitted to the U.S. consular authorities in Europe [at the American Consulate in Rome to be precise] after the investment has been realized. Realizing the investment takes time. Think of rent, for example, which is paid on a monthly basis, or shipping costs, which are one-time expenses, or even legal and administrative costs or setting up an office, which are also one-time costs and in any case are not of such magnitude that they alone can justify applying for an E2 visa. One solution may be to prepay rents, for example, or to accelerate other investments. But this, too, must be carefully planned.

Investment Classes Useful for Applying for an E2 Visa to Work in the U.S.

Some investment items have the advantage of being potentially significant in quantity and quick to implement, helping to speed up the investment process and, therefore, the completion of the investor visa application process for the United States.

We refer, for example, to the following:

• Cash and Liquidity. There is a tendency to underestimate this, but having cash in the bank account becomes part of the investment if it is a physiological liquidity that can be part of the working capital items.
  
  We repeat: having $1 million deposited in the bank account does not in itself constitute a useful form of investment for applying for the E2 Investor visa. However, having, for example, $50,000 available in the current account [when other investments have already been implemented] is characterizable as an element of working capital and is by its very nature a readily realizable investment [just transfer the money to the account with a wire transfer from your country]
• Stocks. The establishment of inventories by the U.S. company is a form of investment that counts toward the U.S. investor visa application, even if the stocks have not yet been paid in full to the supplier. This, too, is a readily implemented investment, in that it is sufficient to import the goods to implement it.
• Trademark. In many cases, the value of the trademark may be among the eligible investment items for the purposes of applying for the E2 investor visa for the United States.
• Real Estate Investment: the purchase in the U.S. of apartments, houses, or real estate in general, to be kept in a vacant portfolio or to be rented out to third parties, is NOT a valid form of investment for the purposes of obtaining an investor visa; this is because real estate investment constitutes what is considered "passive investment" in the U.S., whereas the E2 visa is designed to encourage productive investment, i.e., those forms of investment in the U.S. that promote economic activities of any kind [production of goods, marketing of goods, provision of services of all kinds]
  
  IMPORTANT: It should be noted that buying a house or apartment to live in is NOT a valid form of investment for the purpose of obtaining an E2 visa. The investment must be related to starting a business in the U.S..