How to build E-2 visa five-year financial projections that demonstrate non-marginality, job creation, and the economic impact USCIS expects from a treaty investor.
The E-2 treaty investor visa requires the investment to be substantial and the enterprise to be more than marginal. Marginality is where most weak E-2 petitions fall apart — and the five-year financial projection is the single most important exhibit for proving the business will generate more than just a living for the investor and family.
This guide walks through how to build E-2 projections that adjudicators trust.
Per 9 FAM 402.9-6(E), a marginal enterprise is one that does not have the present or future capacity to generate more than enough income to provide a minimal living for the investor and family. The bar is not "the business will eventually be profitable" — it's "the business will, within five years of E-2 status, generate income or job creation that meaningfully exceeds the investor's personal needs."
There are two recognized paths to demonstrate non-marginality:
Income — the business will produce significantly more income than what the investor needs to live on 2. Job creation — the business will employ U.S. workers in numbers and roles that produce real economic impact