E-2 visa business plan template for a treaty investor filing
Twelve chapters built around what an officer has to be satisfied of, including the two a commercial template leaves out: the investment, and where the money came from. No email required.
- An investment chapter that states what you put in against what the business costs
- Source and path of funds, which are two questions rather than one
- A five-year US hiring table, because marginality is answered with jobs
Word
Google DocsTwelve chapters with a prompt under every heading, a note on each of the chapters that decide applications, and the investment and hiring tables already laid out. Informational only, not legal advice.
Four things a commercial template never asks you
An E-2 plan is read against the criteria below. Two of these chapters do not exist in an ordinary business plan, which is why a generic template leaves the hardest part blank.
A substantial investment, irrevocably committed
There is no minimum in law. The test is proportional: what you put in against what this business costs to start or buy. Money still sitting in a personal account is not yet invested, and funds secured against the assets of the business being bought are not at risk.
Source and path of funds
Two separate questions, and plans routinely answer only the first. Where the money lawfully came from, and the traceable route it took into the business, with a document against every step. An unexplained gap in the chain reads as an unanswered question.
More than a marginal enterprise
The business has to do more than provide a living for you and your family. That is why the template carries a five-year US hiring table with a role, a start month and a salary per line, rather than a sentence about growth. You and your family do not count towards it.
Develop and direct
At least fifty percent treaty-national ownership, and operational control you can evidence: your title, what you decide, who reports to you. Passive investment does not qualify, however large it is.
This template is informational and is not legal advice. E-2 classification is discretionary, treaty eligibility depends on your nationality, and requirements differ between a consular application and a change of status filed inside the United States. Have an immigration attorney review your plan and your evidence before you file.
The template writes the plan. It does not keep the numbers honest.
An E-2 plan is read for consistency. The hiring table drives payroll, payroll drives the profit and loss, and the profit and loss has to support the job creation that answers marginality. In a document those sit in three places.
| This template | Upmetrics | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing the twelve chapters | Prompts under every heading, write straight into it | Drafts each section from your answers, you edit |
| Five-year projections | You build them yourself, in a spreadsheet alongside | Built from your assumptions, three statements kept in step |
| Keeping payroll and the hiring plan consistent | Change a hire, then update it in three other places by hand | Change it once; the payroll line and the cash flow follow |
| Changing an assumption late | Rework every table the assumption touched | Re-forecast and every figure moves together |
| Handing it to an attorney | Export or email the document | Share a link, or export to PDF and Word |
Or take the template above. Both are free to start, and the template is yours either way.
Would rather someone else wrote it? See the E-2 business plan writing service.
The rest of the E-2 picture
The plan is one part of the application. These cover the criteria, the costs and the timeline.
Not quite the right one?
Same template underneath. What changes is the guidance around it, and which sections do the work.
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- Simple business plan templateSix chapters instead of eleven, and which four you can safely cut.
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- 3 year business plan templateA shorter horizon you can defend line by line, with a milestone roadmap behind the forecast.
- Nonprofit business plan templatePrograms, funding mix, governance and the impact section funders score.
- Franchise business plan templateBuilt around the FDD, with the royalty, ad fund and Item 7 investment range a general template has no line for.
Or go back to the full business plan template.
The hiring plan and the projections have to agree. Let them update together.
Build the forecast once and the payroll line, the cash flow and the job numbers stay consistent as assumptions change.
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