An E-2 business plan, written by someone who filed one.
Two weeks. $1,500, fixed, and it comes off the price if you go on to build. Your attorney reviews the draft and I revise it with you. Written in English for the file, discussed in German if that is easier.
Business consultancy, not a law firm. Your attorney owns the case.
Not sure you’re ready? Run the E-2 Reality Check (3 minutes)
What the officer reads
Four tests. The plan answers each one.
Every E-2 plan is read against the same requirements. The plan is organized so an adjudicator finds the answer to each in the place they expect it.
Real and operating. The enterprise is a real business producing goods or services, not an idea or a holding structure: what it sells, to whom, from where, starting when.
Substantial investment. The funds are committed and at risk, in proportion to the cost of establishing this kind of business: source of funds, amounts, and what each dollar becomes.
Not marginal. The business does more than support the investor: a staffing plan with US hires and projections that show capacity beyond a living.
Develop and direct. The investor controls the enterprise and runs it: ownership, role, and the decisions that are theirs.
Plain-language summary of the standard, not legal advice. Your attorney decides what the file needs.
What's in the plan
Twenty-five to forty pages, in the order the file needs them.
01
Executive summary: the business, the investment, the investor, the ask, on one page.
02
The enterprise: entity, ownership, treaty nationality, location, status of formation.
03
The investment: source of funds, amounts committed and at risk, use of funds.
04
Market and customers: who buys, why now, and the evidence for both.
05
Product or service and operations: what is delivered, how, with what.
06
Marketing and first customers: channels, launch plan, early traction where it exists.
07
Staffing: US hires over five years, roles, timing, payroll.
08
The investor's role: how the investor develops and directs the enterprise.
09
Five-year projections: P&L, cash flow, balance sheet, with the assumptions written out.
10
Milestones to first renewal: what will exist at month twelve and twenty-four.
Appendix: the evidence list, organized the way the attorney wants it.
How it works
01
Intake.
A short form, then a ninety-minute working session with you (and your attorney's brief, if there is one). Day one to three.
02
Draft.
The full plan goes to you and your attorney by day ten.
03
Revisions.
Your attorney's notes, your changes, my rewrite. Two rounds are included, and anything the attorney's review requires on top of that.
04
File.
Final version formatted for the file, with the evidence appendix. First draft by day ten, final by day fourteen. Time the plan spends with your attorney for review doesn’t count.
Price
$1,500, and it comes off the 90-day build.
Includes the working session, the full plan, two rounds of revisions plus whatever your attorney's notes require, and the formatted final. No hourly meter.
If you go on to the 90-day build, the full $1,500 is credited against it. The build turns the plan into an operating business: entity coordinated with counsel, site, product or prototype, first customers. Details on the E-2 case page.
Template shops charge about the same for a document assembled from a form. The difference is who writes it: someone who has run the kind of business the plan describes, and who can build this one if you want him to. $1,500 is the cheapest way to find out whether that is true.
Want to see one? I pulled apart the plan I filed for my own E-2.
Opening a US office for your existing company, or filing an NIW? The L-1 new office plan and the NIW plan work the same way, at the same price.
Plan outline by email
Read the outline before you decide.
I'll send the full section-by-section outline of an immigration-ready E-2 plan, with a paragraph on what each section has to prove. Useful whether you hire me or not.
Questions
Do I need an attorney before I start?
No. If you have one, the plan is written to their brief. If you don't, start with the Reality Check; I work with whichever attorney you choose, and I don't refer or take fees.
Do you guarantee approval?
No one honest does. I guarantee a plan that describes a business which exists and holds up.
Can the plan be in German?
The file needs English. The working session, the drafts we discuss and the notes can be German.
What if the business changes while the case is pending?
Revisions are included while we get to the filing: two rounds plus whatever your attorney's review turns up. Larger rewrites after filing are a short fixed-fee job.
How fast can you go?
First draft by day ten and the final by day fourteen is the normal pace. A week is possible when the attorney's deadline requires it and you can keep up.