USAE-1 and E-2 Visas: One treaty, two doors.
An E visa lets a citizen of a treaty country move to the United States to run trade or an investment. The E-1 is for traders and the E-2 for investors. Neither has a lottery, an annual cap or a fixed investment minimum, and the application goes either to a US consulate or to USCIS.
What is an E visa?
A US E visa is a nonimmigrant visa for citizens of countries that hold a treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States. The E-1 covers substantial trade with the US and the E-2 a substantial investment in a US business. Both cover the trader or investor, the enterprise's key employees, and their spouses and children.
What is the difference between E-1 and E-2?
The E-1 rests on trade that already flows, with the treaty country accounting for more than half of the company's international trade. The E-2 rests on capital the investor has put at risk in a real, operating US business that the investor develops and directs. Fees, forms and the consular process are identical.
Which countries qualify for E visas?
The E-2 treaty list has 82 countries and the E-1 list 55; 53 countries qualify for both, among them Turkey, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico. Greece and Brunei hold E-1 rights only. Egypt, Grenada, Ukraine and 26 others hold E-2 rights only. India, China, Brazil, Russia and Vietnam hold neither.
How long can you stay on an E visa?
Each entry admits the E visa holder for up to two years, and extensions come in two-year steps for as long as the trade or the business keeps qualifying. The law sets no maximum number of renewals. The visa in the passport has its own validity, set by nationality, and for many treaty countries it runs up to five years.
What is the E visa?
The E visa is the US treaty trader and treaty investor visa: a visa for business owners and the people who run their US operations. The treaty sits between the United States and your country of citizenship, and it opens two doors. The E-1 is for a trader whose goods or services already cross the border; the E-2 is for an investor who has put capital into a US business.
An E case takes one of two routes. At a US consulate, the application is Form DS-160 with the DS-156E treaty supplement, and the officer decides at the interview or after further review. How long that takes depends on the post. Inside the US, someone already in another status files Form I-129 with USCIS for a change of status. USCIS acts within its posted processing time for Form I-129, or within 15 business days with premium processing.
“...an alien entitled to enter the United States under and in pursuance of the provisions of a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and the foreign state of which the alien is a national... (i) solely to carry on substantial trade, including trade in services or trade in technology, principally between the United States and the foreign state of which the alien is a national; (ii) solely to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which the alien has invested, or of an enterprise in which the alien is actively in the process of investing, a substantial amount of capital...”
Four phrases in that paragraph set the four tests:
Nationality is the gate. Your passport must come from a country on the treaty list, and nationals of that same country must own at least half of the business, wherever it is incorporated. Ownership is traced through every layer of holding companies to the people who hold the shares.
The E-1 test. Officers weigh a continuous flow of transactions rather than one large deal, and over half of the firm's international trade must run between the treaty country and the US. A small firm with many modest shipments can qualify.
The E-2 test. The law sets no dollar minimum. The officer weighs what you invested against what the business costs to start or buy; the smaller the business, the larger the share you fund. The money must be committed and at risk.
You run the business. Control normally means owning at least half of it, or holding operational control through a senior management role or a comparable arrangement. Passive ownership does not qualify.
Sources: 9 FAM 402.9 · State Department · Table XV(B), FY 2024 · USCIS · E-2 Treaty Investors
Why does the E visa exist?
The E visas exist because of treaties. Each treaty of commerce and navigation, bilateral investment treaty or trade agreement with an investment chapter gives that country's citizens a right to enter the US to trade or invest. A country joins or leaves the list only when a treaty or a statute changes.
Congress wrote the treaty trader into immigration law in 1924 and added the treaty investor in 1952. Since then the list has grown by treaty and by statute, which is why some countries hold E-2 rights only and two hold E-1 rights only.
E visa history, year by year
The convention with the United Kingdom enters into force, the earliest date on the State Department's treaty list and still the basis for British E-1 and E-2 applicants.
Section 3(6) of the Immigration Act of 1924 admits treaty traders outside the new national-origins quotas.
The Immigration and Nationality Act adds the treaty investor at INA §101(a)(15)(E)(ii). E-1 and E-2 take their present form.
Bilateral investment treaties add a wave of E-2-only countries, from Bangladesh and Grenada in 1989 to Egypt in 1992, Ukraine in 1996 and Bahrain in 2001.
Congress adds a three-year domicile requirement for nationality acquired through investment (December 2022) and opens the category to Portugal, in force from March 15, 2024.
The E visa family: E-1 and E-2.
The E-1 and E-2 are the two doors for business owners, and every E business can bring in its key people and their families in the same class. Each case starts with the same question: does the business trade, or does it invest?
E-1 Visa
For owners and key staff of a business that already trades with the US from the treaty country, in goods, services or technology.
Standard: substantial trade, carried on principally with the US.
E-2 Visa
For people who invest their own money in a US business they will run. A startup, a purchase, a franchise or a subsidiary of the company back home all qualify.
Standard: a substantial investment in a bona fide, operating US business the investor develops and directs.
E-1 and E-2 employees
Executives, supervisors and staff whose skills are essential to the US operation qualify in the employer's class, provided they hold the treaty nationality. The company's trade or investment qualifies the case; the employee proves the role.
Standard: the employer's nationality, and an executive, supervisory or essential role.
Spouses and children
A spouse and unmarried children under 21 receive the same E class as the principal, for the same period, whatever their own nationality. The spouse may work; the children may study but not work.
Standard: the relationship to the principal; any nationality qualifies.
E-1 vs E-2 visa: the differences.
The E-1 is based on trade; the E-2 is based on invested capital. Nationality rules, fees, forms, the two-year admission, the green card position and family rights are identical, and the table lists the points that differ.
| E-1 | E-2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Basis | Trade in goods, services or technology with the treaty country | Capital invested in a US enterprise the investor will run |
| What you prove | The volume, continuity and US share of the trade | The amount invested, its source, and that it is already spent or contractually committed |
| When you can apply | Once the trade exists; binding contracts for immediate exchange count | Once the funds are committed, even before the business opens |
| Capital | No investment required | No statutory minimum; weighed against the total cost of the business |
| Marginal business rule | Does not apply | Applies: within five years the business must earn more than a living for the investor, or make a significant economic contribution |
| Typical profiles | Exporters, importers, distributors, software and service firms with US clients | Founders, buyers of existing businesses, franchisees, subsidiaries of a foreign parent |
| Treaty countries | 55 | 82 |
E-1 and E-2 visa approval rates.
The State Department publishes E visa issuances and refusals by class for each fiscal year, and the approval rate below is visas issued as a share of all applications. The figures cover consular applications only; change-of-status and extension decisions made by USCIS inside the US are counted separately. In FY 2024 posts issued 55,324 E-2 visas against 6,108 refusals, and 5,639 E-1 visas against 502 refusals. E-2 issuance has grown every year since FY 2020 and now runs at 2.4 times that level.
| E-2 visa | Issued | Refused | Approval rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2020 | 23,493 | 3,266 | 87.8% |
| FY 2021 | 33,129 | 2,683 | 92.5% |
| FY 2022 | 45,878 | 4,823 | 90.5% |
| FY 2023 | 54,812 | 5,615 | 90.7% |
| FY 2024 | 55,324 | 6,108 | 90.1% |
| E-1 visa | Issued | Refused | Approval rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2020 | 3,278 | 447 | 88.0% |
| FY 2021 | 4,851 | 298 | 94.2% |
| FY 2022 | 5,383 | 465 | 92.0% |
| FY 2023 | 5,806 | 491 | 92.2% |
| FY 2024 | 5,639 | 502 | 91.8% |
By nationality, Japan led with 17,116 E visas in FY 2024. Canada followed with 7,962, then Germany with 4,205, France with 3,839, Taiwan with 3,340, the United Kingdom with 2,952 and Mexico with 1,852. Turkish nationals received 843.
Issued and refused counts come from the State Department's Report of the Visa Office, Table XV(B) and its NIV Workload by Visa Category reports; nationality figures come from Table XVI. Counts include spouses and children, who hold the same class. Refused means still refused when the fiscal year closed, including section 221(g) refusals that can be overcome later. Every application is decided on its own record.
Which E visa, in four situations.
Four common starting points, and where each one leads.
Your company abroad already sells to US customers.
Start with the E-1. The visa follows the trade the company already has, so no US investment is needed. The evidence is the transaction record: contracts, invoices and shipping or service records over time.
You are buying or starting a business in the US.
That is an E-2 case. Commit the capital before the application and keep a clear record of where the money came from and how it reached the business. The officer reviews the source and path of the funds as well as the amount.
Your business could qualify for both.
Pick the basis with the stronger documentary record this year. An E-2 company that later exports back to the treaty country can add an E-1 record. A trading company that opens a US operation with its own capital can add the E-2.
Your passport is on neither list.
A passport with no treaty rights closes the E route. The options are a second passport from a treaty country, subject to the waiting period for citizenship acquired through investment, or a different visa. The L-1A fits managers of a company with a US arm, the O-1A a documented record of achievement.
Questions, answered.
No. A US consulate places the E visa in the applicant's passport, in the E-1 treaty trader or E-2 treaty investor class. The lowercase e-visa is an online tourist permit some countries issue, and ESTA is the Visa Waiver Program's online entry permission for short visits. The United States issues no electronic visa for trade or investment.
No. The applicant and the business both need the treaty nationality: nationals of that country must hold at least a 50 percent stake in the company. Citizens of a country without a treaty have no direct route. A second citizenship in a treaty country counts; since December 2022, one acquired through investment counts only after three years of domicile there.
A change of status through USCIS grants E status but no visa. The first trip abroad then requires a full E visa application at a consulate, which decides the case on its own review. Leaving while the change is pending abandons the request. An applicant who expects to travel avoids the second review by applying at the consulate first.
Yes. An enterprise can qualify under both classes at once when it trades with the treaty country and also carries a qualifying investment. Each person holds one class at a time, tied to the basis that person relies on. The owner who directs the investment applies as E-2, the manager who runs the trade as E-1.
Not on their own. The E-1 and E-2 are nonimmigrant visas, and the applicant confirms an intent to leave when E status ends. Holders reach a green card through a separate category: EB-5 for a larger investment, EB-1C for multinational managers, the EB-2 NIW, an employer petition, or marriage to a US citizen.
Yes. The spouse of an E-1 or E-2 holder is admitted in the same class and may work without a separate work permit. Since November 2021 USCIS treats that permission as part of the status, and the admission record carries an E-1S or E-2S code. Children under 21 receive E status and can study, but not work.
Yes, by qualifying afresh on the other basis; nothing converts on its own. A move from E-2 to E-1 means showing that trade with the treaty country has become substantial and principal. The reverse means showing a substantial investment under the applicant's control.
No. The visa in the passport and the permitted stay are separate. Visa validity depends on the holder's nationality and controls when the holder may enter. Each entry gives a two-year admission, whatever remains on the visa, and leaving and re-entering on a valid visa starts a fresh two-year period.
Go deeper into E-1 and E-2.
The full tests, the evidence a consulate expects, and the step-by-step review live on each guide.
Exporters, importers, distributors, service firms.
The trade tests, what counts as an item of trade, and how a consulate reads a trading record.
Founders, buyers, franchisees, subsidiaries.
The investment tests, source-of-funds evidence, the business plan and the documents a consulate expects.
INA §101(a)(15)(E) · 8 CFR §214.2(e) · 9 FAM 402.9 (State Department Foreign Affairs Manual, revised February 17, 2026) · State Department Treaty Countries list · Report of the Visa Office FY 2024, Tables XV(B) and XVI · NIV Workload by Visa Category, FY 2020 to FY 2024 · State Department visa fee schedule · USCIS E-1 and E-2 pages
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Which E visa fits your business?
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