E-2 visa business plan for a it / software consulting firm
An IT or software consulting firm is a capital-light services business, which makes it one of the harder E-2 fact patterns: it can look like a one-person freelance operation rather than a real, staffed enterprise. The plan must work hard to show a genuine operating company with employees, signed client engagements, and infrastructure, not just the investor billing hours under an LLC.
What an E-2 it / software consulting firm plan has to prove
E-2 adjudication turns on a handful of tests. Here is how each one plays out for a it / software consulting firm specifically, not generic boilerplate.
Substantial investment
There is no minimum, and the proportionality test is unforgiving for low-cost service firms: the lower the cost to start, the higher the proportion of investment expected to be substantial. Frame capital around office space, equipment and software/cloud licensing, prepaid salaries for hired staff, marketing/business development, professional services, and meaningful working capital, not a laptop and incorporation fees. Practitioners sometimes cite ~$60k–$150k+ for consulting cases precisely because startup costs are otherwise low, observation only, never a threshold.
Job creation
This is make-or-break. Show a near-term hiring plan for actual employees (developers, consultants, project managers, sales/account staff) with realistic ramp tied to signed or pipeline engagements. Job creation is the primary lever distinguishing a bona fide firm from a sole proprietor, so the staffing table should be specific (roles, timing, salaries) and credibly funded.
Marginality rebuttal
Marginality is the central risk: a solo consultant generating income only for the investor's own living is the textbook marginal enterprise. Rebut with a payroll supporting multiple employees and revenue projections (backed by signed contracts, LOIs, or a documented pipeline) that clearly exceed a minimal family living within five years. Recurring or contracted revenue is far more persuasive than speculative forecasts.
What officers scrutinize
Officers scrutinize consulting and software firms hard for the 'one-person operation' problem: is there a real client base and signed contracts, will the firm employ people beyond the investor, is there an operational footprint, and is the capital genuinely at risk versus nominal. They probe whether revenue projections are speculative or grounded in executed agreements.
What your it / software consulting firm plan should emphasize
Build your it / software consulting firm plan outline
See the full USCIS-format section list and what your specific business model needs to emphasize in each. Add your treaty country for nationality-specific context.
Your E-2 plan outline
- 01Executive summary
The enterprise, the treaty-investor, the amount invested, and the headline case at a glance.
- 02Company & service/product
What the business does, its structure, and its stage of development.
- 03Substantial investment & capital at risk
An itemized use-of-funds showing the investment is proportional to the business and irrevocably committed: the E-2 substantiality test.
- 04Source-of-funds narrative
How the invested capital was lawfully acquired and traced into the enterprise.
- 05Market analysis
Industry sizing and named competitors with real comparisons, specific to the business model and location.
- 06Marketing & operations plan
How the business reaches customers and runs day to day.
- 07Organization & management (develop-and-direct)
Ownership stake and the investor's operational-control role, framed to the E-2 develop-and-direct standard.
- 08U.S. job-creation staffing table
A year-by-year staffing chart with roles, headcount, and wages: the core marginality rebuttal.
- 095-year financial projections
P&L, cash-flow, and break-even built from your numbers, with the assumptions behind every figure stated.
- 10Marginality rebuttal
Evidence the enterprise generates more than a minimal living, via job creation and future capacity generally realizable within ~5 years.
What a it / software consulting firm plan must emphasize
- Signed client engagements, master service agreements, or detailed LOIs to prove a real, active enterprise
- Specific staffing table with developer/consultant/sales hires, salaries, and ramp timing showing employment beyond the investor
- Proportionally substantial capital allocation (office, equipment, software/cloud, prepaid payroll, BD) given low startup costs
- Revenue model anchored in contracted or recurring work to rebut marginality with non-speculative projections
- Clear articulation of the investor developing and directing the firm, not billing as an individual contractor
This builds the structure of a USCIS-format business-plan document for your business model. It is general information, not legal or immigration advice, and does not assess your eligibility. E-2 has no fixed minimum investment; confirm your strategy with a licensed immigration attorney.
See what you actually get
A it / software consulting firm plan makes these arguments in writing, in USCIS format, not as a fill-in-the-blank template. A page from a plan:
6. The Enterprise Is Not Marginal
The enterprise does not exist solely to provide a minimal living for the investor. As shown in the five-year projections (Exhibit C), it generates operating profit above the income needed to support the investor and family.
Independently, the enterprise makes a significant economic contribution through U.S. job creation, with roles, wages, and hire dates specified in the staffing table (Exhibit D). Either basis is sufficient; both are satisfied here.
Under 9 FAM 402.9, an enterprise is not marginal where it has the present or future capacity, generally within five years, to generate more than a minimal living or to make a significant economic contribution…
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E-2 it / software consulting firm plan FAQ
E-2 plans for other businesses
Sources
- travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/fees/treaty.html
- www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/e-2-treaty-investors
- travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employment/treaty-trader-investor-visa-e.html
E-2 guidance last reviewed 2026-06-30. General information about structuring a business-plan document, not legal or immigration advice; E-2 has no fixed minimum investment, and eligibility depends on your facts as assessed by a consular officer or USCIS. Confirm with a licensed immigration attorney.
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