How To Determine If Your E-2 Visa Business Is Marginal

Before you can get an E-2 visa, you have to demonstrate to the immigration authorities that your E-2 visa business is not a marginal one. This means that the business needs to generate enough profit that would be enough to take care of more than the family needs of the investor.

When deciding if a business is marginal or not, the consular office considers the profit from the business and the impact it has on its host community. This is usually through a metric like the creation of jobs.

How profitable does the E-2 Visa Business have to be?

To determine if a business is marginal, the consular office would review the nature of the profit that arises from the business. The income needs to be significantly more than the amount required to take care of the investor’s family.

The size of the investor’s family and the location of the business is a factor the consular office would use to determine this metric. In a state like Florida, the median household income is $60,000. So, if you want to invest in an E-2 visa business in Florida, the profit you get from that business needs to be significantly more than $60,000.

You need to accompany your E-2 visa business application with a business plan that projects the future profits for your business. The business plan is very important as the consular officer would use it to determine the credibility of your business enterprise.

If the business you want to invest in is an existing one, you need to get the business’ recent tax return. This would show the annual profits that the business has been able to generate in the years past.

If there was a particular year when the business was not profitable, the embassy could consider other factors like a one-time legal bill, or some other unexpected expenses.

You should also be very vigilant when it comes to analyzing the business’ financial information. Make sure you talk to the business’ accountant about the financial records of the business.

You should also get an independent accountant to investigate and perform “due diligence” on the financial records of your prospective business. Not doing this is likely to cost you in the long run.

How many Employees does an E-2 visa Business need?

The regulations do not state the minimum number of employees your E-2 visa business needs to employ. It, however, states that you have to direct the business through your employees.

It also states that you should not be the sole provider of the services your business offers. Meaning that you cannot be the only employee in your E-2 visa business.

You should, however, note that contributing to the local community by employing more US workers would make your case stronger.