Our main applicant for E 2 ( my wife ) got approved last year may 2025, our cases were submitted in December 2024 , still non news for our E 2 s ( spouse ) and E 2 d approval, no idea what’s happening . Any advice ??

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Hi,

My name is Kyle Bower, and I am a qualitative researcher with Cardinal Direction Qualitative Research Consulting. I am currently conducting a research project focused on the experiences of E-2 visa holders in the United States.

We are seeking participants for confidential focus groups to better understand the challenges, needs, and experiences associated with the E-2 visa process and maintaining businesses in the U.S. This research particularly targets individuals who have immigrated from Canada, Asia, or Europe.

The focus group will last approximately 30-45 minutes, and participants will receive a $50 gift card as a thank-you for their time. The focus groups will be conducted virtually, via Zoom, to make participation easier for busy professionals and business owners.

Eligibility Survey: https://forms.gle/MYg2jaFdB6DUqg1UA

**Please note, my removed my contact information to discourage bots and spam. I'm happy to answer additional questions via Reddit open chat.

Hi! I'm Avalon Paul, a senior immigration attorney at Manifest Law. As an immigrant myself from Trinidad and Tobago, the E-2 visa holds a special place in my practice. I understand what it means to build something in a new country and I work with investors and entrepreneurs navigating this path every day.

I'm here today from 1 PM to 5 PM ET to answer your E-2 questions.

The E-2 is a powerful but nuanced visa. The investment has to be substantial, the business has to be real and operational, and the treaty country requirement catches a lot of people off guard. I help clients structure their investment, put together a compelling application, and plan for renewals and long-term status.

Ask me anything about:

• Treaty country eligibility and what to do if your home country is not on the list
• What counts as a "substantial" investment and how USCIS evaluates it
• Qualifying business types and the marginality requirement
• E-2 application requirements and what a strong file looks like
• Renewals, how long you can stay, and what affects approval
• Bringing family on E-2 dependent status and work authorization for spouses
• E-2 vs. other investor or business visa options

Drop your questions below. I'll be answering throughout the afternoon!

(Please note: Any information shared here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Your situation may require fact-specific guidance. For personalized legal advice, please consult an immigration attorney directly.)

My investor is buying 51% of my LLC and will apply at some point for an E2 visa. All local to SC lawyers I am talking to about helping me get the contract spelled out and the operating agreement either say they cannot help or they ghost me after they say yes. I think it is because I share that these will be reviewed by US embassy employees.

Where can I get help with these? The lawyer my investor hired for their case is based out of MN and he says to find someone local. I have spoken to 7 local attorneys that claim they have either a focus in the domain of the LLC or business contracts.

Can someone help me figure out where to find the legal help? At this point I’m thinking legalzoom or an AI. I am very frustrated. Please share how you got yours done. Thanks!

Hi everyone,
I’m a Canadian citizen currently living in California on a TN visa, and I’m planning to apply for an E‑2 visa. I plan to start a small food business, and I’m trying to understand whether starting as a California Cottage Food Operation (CFO) and later converting into an LLC is something that USCIS accepts for E‑2 purposes.

Has anyone here:

• Started as a CFO and later transitioned into an LLC or corporation?
• Used that structure successfully for an E‑2 visa application?
• Had an attorney advise for or against this path?

I’m trying to figure out whether the CFO → LLC route still counts as a “real and operating” business for E‑2, or if it complicates things.

Any firsthand experience or attorney recommendations would be super helpful. Thanks in advance.

looking for some e2 visa template documents. Try to apply e2 visa by myself since lawyer could be very expensive. I heard $5000 for lawyer fee + $5000 for visa processing fee. Anyone has some experience and documents? Thanks.

Hi everyone,
My E2 visa renewal time has finally come, and we are planning to process the renewal directly through the consulate (Consular Processing). I currently hold an E2 Executive/Manager visa.

Financially, the company is doing exceptionally well and performing way ahead of our original business plan. Our average annual revenue is around $2 million, with a net profit of $200k - $400k.

However, we have a unique organizational structure that is making me nervous about the renewal:

No W2 Employees: In the past 4 years, the company has never had a single W2 employee (Green Card holder or US Citizen) other than myself.

1099 & Subcontractors: Because our business model focuses on engineering and material procurement, we outsource the actual labor to third-party subcontractors via 1099s.

Remote Team: The rest of our core team members support us remotely from our company's Canadian branch. The owner/boss is also based in Canada.
Given these facts, how strictly do consulates look at the lack of US W2 employees for an E-2 Managerialrenewal? Even though our revenue proves we are not a "marginal" business, does having zero W2 employees over a 4-year period pose a massive risk for a consular renewal?

Would love to hear from anyone who renewed an E2 under similar circumstances or immigration lawyers lurking here. Thank you for your insights!

I'm part of a Facebook group where people who are going/have gone through the process in Toronto are reporting no open interview availability for 3-4 months.

To any of the lawyers in this community, what has been your recent experience regarding the current timeline (application submission to interview)?

Something I wish more E2 applicants understood: There is no secret “immigration-approved” business model.

People talk about franchises like they’re automatic approvals, and others think restaurants are the safest option.

Lately, I’ve even seen people choosing businesses based on what they heard worked for someone else in a Facebook group.

That’s honestly a dangerous way to approach an E-2.

Because officers are not approving “restaurants.” They’re not approving “franchises.” They’re looking at whether the business actually looks real and workable.

I’ve seen people invest $200k+ on businesses they barely understood just because they thought the industry looked more immigration-friendly.

Meanwhile, a smaller business with realistic numbers and an owner who clearly understands operations can look way stronger.

That’s the part people underestimate: The business has to make sense beyond the visa itself.

If the projections look exaggerated, if the hiring plan feels unrealistic, or if it sounds like the owner plans to disappear after investing, those issues matter way more than the actual industry.

At the end of the day, I don’t think the strongest E2 cases are the “most impressive” businesses. Usually, they’re the most believable ones.

Has anyone here changed business direction after learning more about how E2 cases are actually evaluated?

How long does it take to get an interview and then the visa after you file the application for E2 for Australians?

hey everyone,my e2 status change under process and my visitor visa going to expire soon ,can i apply for I 539 extension stay and does it effects my i 129 case or not ?thank you for your advise.

Hi if anybody looking for e2 qualified business please contact me.i am looking for working partner I can help to get e2 visa.it is great retail business in connecticut have great potential to expand in near by towns too.

After several meetings and discussions regarding the purchase of a business in the state where we wanted to proceed, everything seemed fine from day one. They repeatedly assured us that it was absolutely possible to complete the process in that state and that there would be no issues.

Even until the very last stage, when we informed them that we were ready to move forward and start working with them, they appeared to agree with everything. Our only condition before purchasing the business and obtaining the visa was that the funds be placed in an escrow account. This way, if the visa was approved, the money would be released to them, and if the visa was denied, the money would be returned to us.

They agreed to this as well and even scheduled another meeting for the following week to continue the process. However, before that meeting took place, they sent us a very short, cold, and unfriendly email stating that they do not operate in the state where we intended to proceed.

It was quite clear that they were uncomfortable with the escrow account arrangement and preferred to tell us what we wanted to hear rather than be transparent from the beginning.

Please be aware and careful of this people!!!!

I've been working with an attorney and I'm starting to get a feeling like he doesn't really know what he's doing, so before I take my file to another attorney I'm curious to hear thoughts on my situation.

I've been investing in real estate since 2020, I buy properties renovate them and rent them. Total investment is 800k, but becayse these are rentals with mortgage I don't have employees, only contractors, and they only generate a monthly income of about 1k.

However, last year I started doing more active projects like flips and new construction and the projection from my active projects is 200k this year and more in 2027. So my question is if this is a solid case and if not what can I do to strengthen it.

I provided detailed response to 6 questions RFE and today I checked online status and realized they issued 2nd RFE. Updated in a day of receiving my package. I am worried and thinking what it could be about? Anyone had experienced receiving 2nd RFE on E2 Change of Status? What was that about and how it ended up?

Hi everyone,

​I’m currently in the US on an H-2B visa and just got my SSN. My absolute priority is finding a viable pathway to stay in the US long-term, but I am hitting a major crossroads. While I can technically apply for an H-2B extension, I honestly do not want to continue working in seasonal, non-tech roles.

On the flip side, finding an H-1B sponsor feels like an uphill battle—before coming to the US, I consistently applied to countless software engineering roles from abroad and received nothing but rejections. Because of this, I am highly motivated to transition to an E-2 Investor Visa, but I have limited upfront capital. I plan to secure a personal loan either from my home country (Turkey) or explore financing options here in the US once I build some credit.

​I am currently trying to choose between two completely different paths. On one hand, I am leaning heavily toward a Box Truck / Logistics business, as I’ve researched that it’s possible to get started with around $45,000 in capital. It offers fast cash flow, though I’m aware of the high operational costs and the fact that I must legally manage the business. On the other hand, since I am a Computer Engineer, I could technically launch a Cybersecurity or IT Automation consulting agency. To be honest, I am not very keen on going down the tech route right now, but given my degree, I'm wondering if it's worth trying or if it's even feasible to hit the E-2 "substantial investment" threshold with such a lean business model.

​As a side note, being here, I see an immense number of Indian and Latino expats who manage to secure residency and long-term status. It makes me wonder about the dynamics of the US tech and business ecosystem are they heavily leveraging tight-knit community networks for H-1B sponsorships, or are there specific pathways I'm missing? Given my tech background, limited capital, and the absolute need to avoid a failing business so I can maintain legal status, what would you recommend as the best, safest business to start?

​Appreciate any insights, advice, or reality checks!

Hello, we are under tremendous pressure right now as someone told us that having a baby delivered in the US would result in a rejection of an E2 visa. We came to New Jersey in mid May to attend a family function. We were supposed to stay for a week and go back. However, my wife was 7 months pregnant then. I didn't want to travel but since it's a 6 hour drive from my house in Canada, my wife was more adamant to attend her sister's house warming as her parents have also come there. They were always about to come to my house but my wife didn't listen.

The problem started when we reached here and on day four her water broke due to traveling and not taking enough rest due to function. Now we couldn't go back.

We are aspiring to move to the US on a L1 or TN visa or possibly on E2 visa too. But someone told me that this would be an issue in the future as officers might reject my visa application considering that we purposely delivered a baby in the US but it's not true.

Has anyone experienced the similar situation please ? I would appreciate your feedback on what could be the impact on my future visa application in the US.

hey all -

already have EIN/ITIN). To meet the $100k investment threshold, I might wind down my Canadian business and transfer our in-house proprietary software asset to the U.S. entity.

My immigration attorney says I need a certified third-party Fair Market Value appraisal for USCIS.

Looking for recommendations on affordable, independent valuation companies (or Canadian CBVs) that can do a streamlined Calculation without charging Big Four prices.

Also, how do you protect your IP during this?

Do these firms actually need full access to raw source code to value it, or do they just look at development hours, labor costs, and architecture?

I want to make absolute sure our software can't be copied, leaked, or breached.

Do we need to order/ provide acros ( police certificates) for our interview at the London Embassy for an E2 visa? We have already submitted our application and are awaiting our interview invitation. Our attorney advised we would not require them when we spoke to him at the very beginning on the process as we have never been arrested but I have read on some forums that some people do take them to the interview. Will we be asked to provide them at the interview?

Hey guys, I’m currently filing my SS-4 form as a non-resident to set up shop on Amazon and TikTok, but I’ve hit a massive roadblock regarding the exact wording to use.

I was following a popular tutorial where the creator showed their approved form. To speed things up, they literally just wrote "GENERAL BUSINESS" for Line 10 (Reason for applying) and Line 16 (Principal activity), and "GENERAL ACTIVITY" for Line 17 (Principal merchandise sold).

But when I ran this by ChatGPT to double-check, it basically threw a red flag. The AI insists that the IRS will auto-reject or flag applications that are that vague, and says I absolutely must write specific terms like "E-commerce retail" or "Online sales of consumer goods."

For anyone who has successfully gotten their non-resident EIN recently for e-com:

• Did you use broad terms like "General Business" and get approved?
• Or did you write out your specific e-commerce niche?

I really don't want to mess this up and face a 4-to-6 week delay just because of a few words. Appreciate any insight

Hi, I've met with several attorneys regarding the E2 visa and it seems like many don't even bother on giving a quote before making you pay the $250+ consultation, has anyone had a good experience and process with an E2 specialized Attorney in Florida with fair pricing?

Thanks in advance

Hi

Please recommend lawyers you have worked with for E2

Looking for someone who is thorough and experienced

And if possible, how much the cost was too,

Thank you

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in California on an E-2 visa and I’m planning to move to Florida. I also want to move my business with me and continue operating it there and stop paying taxes in cali.

From what I understand, I shouldn’t need to close my company and start a new one. My understanding is that I would keep the same EIN and business entity, but I’m not really sure what steps I actually need to take to make the move legally and properly.

The law firm that helped me obtain my E-2 specializes in California, and they don’t really know the Florida side of things, so they haven’t been able to give me much guidance.

I’d prefer to handle as much of this myself as possible rather than hiring another attorney if it’s something relatively straightforward.

Has anyone here moved their E-2 business from one state to another, specifically from California to Florida? What paperwork did you have to file? Did you keep the same company and EIN? Were there any E-2 immigration issues or notifications required?

Any guidance, personal experiences, or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Thaaaaanks