E2 Treaty Investor Visa
Nationals of qualifying Treaty countries who have made a significant investment in the United States may qualify for E2 Treaty Investor status. Like the E1 visa, there is no set minimum level of investment which may qualify for E2 status, but the lower the investment the less likely one is to qualify. Again, the level of investment must be sufficient to justify the treaty national (or his/her employees) presence in the United States. The investment must be in an operating business – i.e. simply buying property or stocks and bonds does not qualify. Also, a substantial part of the investment must have been made before applying for E2 status.
There is another investor visa called the EB-5 visa for USA immigration which is designed specifically for those wishing to immigrate to the USA by investing in the creation of a new commercial enterprise.
E2 visas may only be applied for by people or companies from the following countries:
Argentina | China (ROC) | Georgia | Kyrgyzstan | Pakistan | Switzerland |
Armenia | Colombia | Germany | Latvia | Panama | Thailand |
Australia | Congo | Grenada | Liberia | Philippines | Togo |
Austria | Costa Rica | Honduras | Luxembourg | Poland | Trinidad and Tobago |
Bangladesh | The Czech Republic | Iran | Mexico | Romania | Tunisia |
Belarus | Ecuador | Ireland | Morocco | Senegal | Turkey |
Belgium | Egypt | Italy | Moldovia | The Slovak Republic | The Ukraine |
Bosnia-Herzegovina | Estonia | Jamaica | Mongolia | Spain | United Kingdom |
Bulgaria | Ethiopia | Japan | Netherlands | Sri Lanka | Uzbekistan |
Cameroon | Finland | Kazakhstan | Norway | Suriname | Yugoslavia |
Canada | France | Korea | Oman | Sweden |
Unratified but signed treaties exist with: Albania, Azerbaijan, Haiti, Jordan, Nicaragua, and Russia.
Investors from qualifying countries may apply for an E2 visa in order to ‘Direct and Develop’ their investment. They may also apply for E2 visas for key managerial and specialist employees. In contrast to the L1 visa, there is no requirement that such employees have worked for the Investor for at least one year in the last three, nor is it necessary for the Investor to continue operations outside the USA while the Investor or his/her employees are in the USA.