Investor and Trader Visas

E-2 Visa

E-2 Visa is offered to investing companies, partnerships, and individuals who are either owners, directors, or skilled executive workers. It requires both you, your partner(s) (if there is any), and your company (if you are an employee of one) to be promising enough to contribute to the US economy and strengthen the financial cooperation between both parties. Even though the selection process is meticulously regulated and may be tedious for applicants at times, the overwhelming majority of applications get accepted!

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Firstly, the applicant, whether it’s a corporate entity, partnership, or individual, has to be a national of one of the treaty countries. (Dual nationalities accepted).
  • If the applicant is a corporate entity, at least half of the business must be owned by individuals with treaty country’s nationality. The capital for investment must be substantial to ensure the sustainability of the business. 
  • The investment has to be active, operating one. A concept entity and abstract paper enterprise would not be viable for consideration. 
  • Investment should not be marginal. This means investment is required to produce significantly more income than the one which would solely afford the applicant and his/her family’s living. 
  • The investor is expected to have full control over his/her investment funds. 
  • The source of investment funds must be clear and traceable. 

Family Members:

Spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21 can apply for an E-2 dependent visa as well.  

FAQ:

The duration of your stay, as well as the number of entries, vary by treaty country. But it generally ranges from 3 months to 5 years. If you apply change of status in the U.S, you only get 2 years of stay in the U.S. Please beware of difference between visa and status, visa is needed to be able to travel and multiple entries to the U.S while status only gives option to stay in the U.S.  

Yes, you can apply for an extension as many times as you want. 

Yes, you can. To learn more about changing your status, please see Change My Nonimmigrant Status.   

To learn whether your home country is on the treaty list, please visit Treaty Countries.   

This depends on whether you are in the U.S. or not. If you are applying for a change of status in the U.S., the average processing time usually takes about 6 months. On the other hand, you can choose the premium processing service of USCIS. This will shorten the processing time to 15 days! 
If you are outside of the U.S. and going through consular processing for the visa application, the wait time for approval will depend on your home country’s U.S. consulate or embassy. But expectedly, the wait time for consular processing applications will be longer considering that you will also need to make an interview appointment at the U.S. consulate or embassy of your home country.  

Spouses of E-2 workers can apply for work authorization. They need to simply file form I-795, Application for Employment Authorization. If granted, spouses can work any jobs as there are no specific restrictions and regulations concerning their employment.    

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