IN THIS GUIDE · Leased equipment, bought equipment and working capital: sequencing a start-up bakery's E-2 spend
Start with the E-2 eligibility and application overview
Which outlays count and how much
Money counts toward the E-2 investment when it has been spent on the business or is irrevocably committed to it: purchased equipment, a signed commercial lease with rent paid, inventory, permits, professional fees and funds held in escrow that release on visa approval. Leased equipment is counted only to the extent of payments actually made or committed; the ovens' full price does not enter the total because the couple never own them. Cash sitting in a business account is working capital and is treated cautiously, since it can be withdrawn. A start-up should therefore convert as much of its plan as it prudently can into spent or committed money before the interview.
Substantial means proportional, not large
There is no fixed minimum. The investment is substantial if it is a significant proportion of what it costs to establish this kind of business, and if it is large enough to show the couple's financial commitment and their capacity to make the bakery succeed. For a wholesale bakery the relevant total is equipment, fit-out, initial inventory, permits and a few months of operating costs. If that comes to a modest figure and the couple have funded nearly all of it, proportionality is high. If the plan relies on a bank loan secured against the bakery's own equipment, that borrowed portion is not at risk and is left out.
Marginal is about the future, not the first year
An enterprise is marginal if it lacks the present or future capacity to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family, unless it has a present or future capacity to make a significant economic contribution. A new bakery may show losses at first; a credible five-year projection and a documented hiring plan can support the required future-capacity showing. The proposed four first-year bakers and later expansion are evidence, not an automatic cure. Grocery-chain letters of intent may support the demand assumptions, but their weight depends on their terms and the rest of the record.
Developing and directing the bakery
The couple will own the U.S. company outright, which satisfies the requirement that the investor develop and direct the enterprise; ownership of at least half, or operational control by other means, is the usual test. At least 50 percent of the enterprise must be owned by nationals of the treaty country whose E-2 classification is sought. If one spouse is only a Canadian permanent resident, that spouse does not contribute Canadian treaty nationality; the Canadian-citizen spouse must own at least 50 percent and personally control the enterprise, ordinarily through ownership or documented operational control. The E-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and may work in the bakery or elsewhere. Children may study but not work, and E-2 offers no direct path to permanent residence.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.