Read the general investor planning overview
Hypothetical example: Marisol grows bedding plants and nursery stock under glass near Chisholm and has agreed to buy a small nursery in an American state. In its first season the business would employ her, her husband and nobody else. She has the capital and the horticultural record. The question she has been asked, and cannot yet answer, is whether an enterprise that supports only her household is marginal, and what evidence would show otherwise.
What the marginality requirement actually asks
The enterprise must be real and operating, and it must not be marginal — meaning it should not exist merely to generate a living for the investor and family. A business that begins small is not automatically marginal, because the test looks at capacity, present or within a reasonable period, to generate more than minimal living for the investor and family, or to make a significant economic contribution. What defeats an application is not modest size but the absence of any credible evidence that the business will become more than a household income. That evidence is what Marisol has to produce.
What the evidence must prove, item by item
Projections alone prove nothing, so the file should be built from things that already exist plus commitments that are real. The seller's three years of financial statements, tax returns and payroll records establish what the nursery has actually done. Existing customer accounts, wholesale contracts and greenhouse capacity show the base she is buying. On her side, a hiring schedule tied to specific seasons, with wage rates and the working capital to fund them, shows growth she is committed to rather than growth she hopes for. Conditional offers of employment, a lease on additional growing space, or an equipment order with a deposit all convert an intention into an item of proof.
The requirements that marginality sits beside
Marginality is one condition among several and cannot be answered in isolation. The enterprise must be at least fifty percent owned by nationals of the treaty country, and Marisol must develop and direct it, ordinarily through owning at least half or through demonstrated operational control. Her capital must be her own, lawfully sourced, irrevocably committed and genuinely at risk, and substantial in proportion to the cost of acquiring the nursery; there is no universal minimum dollar amount and the EB-5 ten-job rule has no application here. Her husband, as a qualifying E-2 spouse, would be employment-authorized incident to status.
What else is on your mind?
Is there one minimum investment that guarantees E-2 eligibility?Is holding money or owning an asset enough for E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.