U.S. immigration has not had the friendliest year in the headlines. So I want to lead with the most important thing: people are still being approved for E-2 and E-1 visas every single week. We had a client approved in London yesterday. We’ve had multiple approvals across multiple consulates this year.
If you have that entrepreneurial streak — if you want to start a business in the United States, or continue to grow a business in your home country that’s heavily tied to U.S. clients — the E-2 and E-1 are still strong, real options. The requirements haven’t changed. But several practical details have, and you should plan around them. Here’s the full summer 2026 update.
The Forgotten E-1: Still One of the Best US Visa Options
Let me start with the E-1, because it doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. The E-1 is the treaty trader visa, and it’s my personal favorite. Here’s why.
- No investment required. None.
- No U.S. employees required.
- No U.S. office space required.
- You can spend a lot of time in the U.S. or a little — the E-1 doesn’t have the same physical-presence pull as the E-2.
Who qualifies? You have an existing business in your home country, and a significant share of that business’s trade — in goods or services — is with U.S. customers, clients, or vendors. If that’s you, the E-1 is built for your fact pattern. You’re not risking anything new; you’re documenting what’s already happened.
Recent court activity around tariffs may make the E-1 even more attractive for goods-based businesses. The Supreme Court has signaled that aspects of the recent tariff regime may not stand, which could change the cost picture for importers and exporters. If you have a goods trade business between your home country and the U.S., this is worth a fresh look.
Major E-2 Process Changes in 2026
None of the substantive E-2 requirements have changed. What has changed is process. Here are the four shifts that matter most.
1. Third-Country Filing Is Largely Off the Table
Through most of 2024 and 2025, applicants from countries with very backed-up consulates — Turkey, Colombia, others — could often file as third-country applicants in Toronto or elsewhere. That option is essentially gone in 2026.
To apply at a given consulate now, you need to either be a passport holder or have legal residency that allows you to live and work in that country. If you were planning to route around a slow consulate by flying to Toronto, that plan needs to be rebuilt.
For applicants from Canada, Mexico, Australia, and other places where consulates were already operating reasonably, this change has minimal practical impact.
2. Everyone Attends the Interview — Including Babies
Previously, dependents under 14 were not required to attend the interview. That is no longer the case. As of September 2025, every applicant — including infants — must be physically present at the visa interview.
The good news: officers don’t ask questions of small children. The logistical reality: families with multiple kids need to plan for a more complicated interview day, and the change is putting additional strain on consulates that can only physically fit a certain number of people per appointment block.
3. USCIS Change-of-Status Carries New Risk
If you are already in the U.S. on a different status — F-1, TN, or something else — and you want to change to E-2 through USCIS without leaving the country, the timeline matters more than ever.
Historically, as long as you filed before your I-94 expired and your petition was accepted, you could wait out a decision. That’s still technically true. But under a 2025 policy change, if USCIS denies your petition after your I-94 has already expired, you can be issued a Notice to Appear in immigration court. That means deportation proceedings. Even if you leave the U.S. voluntarily after receiving the NTA, the NTA follows you.
Two takeaways. First: if you’re going to change status, file at least 120 days before your I-94 date. Second: always premium process. You do not want to be sitting around for seven or eight months waiting on an answer.
4. The New “Have You Feared for Your Life?” Question
Officers are now supposed to ask a question along the lines of: “Have you ever feared for your life or safety in your home country?”
The official reason is to head off later asylum claims. The practical reality is that if you answer yes, you are very likely to be denied your E-2 visa. Whether the question is actually being asked varies by post. Some posts ask it consistently; some don’t. The London approval yesterday did not include that question. Be aware of it going in.
E-2 Investment Funds: Loans, Personal Funds, and What to Avoid
A common question: can you use a business loan to fund an E-2 investment? Short answer: no. The investment must be personal funds — money that is genuinely at risk for you, the investor.
You can use a personal loan from a family member. You can potentially use a home equity line of credit. What you cannot do is fund the investment with a business loan, an SBA loan, or any loan secured by the business assets themselves.
One trap to watch out for, even with personal loans: the fine print. We’ve seen institutional personal loans with language buried deep in the loan document saying the funds cannot be used for any business or investment purpose. If your loan agreement says that, those funds are not eligible for the E-2 — regardless of how the loan is labeled. Read the entire document. If you’re not sure, have us read it before you commit.
Can You Use an Airbnb Business for an E-2 Visa?
Yes — with the right structure. We’ve successfully done E-2 cases built around Airbnb and short-term property management businesses. The key is that you must still meet all six E-2 requirements: the business has to be a real, operating enterprise, the investment has to be substantial, you have to be able to direct and develop the business, and so on.
Single-property passive rentals usually don’t get there. A real short-term rental management operation, with multiple properties, an active operational structure, and a defensible business plan, can. We have a dedicated video on the short-term property management model on our YouTube channel if you want to dig into the specifics.
Kids on E-2 Visas: What Happens When They Turn 21
If you’re an E-2 principal, you can renew indefinitely as long as you continue to meet the requirements. Your spouse can work in the U.S. Your kids can go to school. But there are two hard rules on dependents:
- Children on an E-2 dependent visa cannot work in the U.S. — ever.
- Dependent children age out on their 21st birthday. It does not matter how old they were when they got the visa.
Our strong recommendation: when your child turns 20, start planning their next step. Most often that means an F-1 student visa, but the right pathway depends on the kid’s situation. The goal is a clean transition without a status gap.
E-2 Visa Renewal Strategy: Start Planning a Year Out
Renewals were once relatively forgiving. They’re stricter now. Interview waivers that some applicants used to qualify for are gone — everyone interviews again at renewal.
The renewal calendar should start about twelve months before your renewal date. Pull the numbers your renewal officer will actually look at: top-line revenue, profitability, W-2s on payroll, 1099 contractors. Compare them to where you said your business would be at your last interview.
If the numbers are strong, great — we move forward and check back in six months. If they’re soft, you usually have time to do something about it: hire a couple more W-2 employees, push the back half of the year on revenue, document the trajectory. The renewal looks at your most recent tax returns, so anything you can do before those returns are filed will show up in your file.
The clients we don’t want to be talking to for the first time are the ones whose tax returns are already filed, already showing weak numbers, and whose renewal interview is six weeks away.
Interview Trends: Social Media and Officers Googling You
Two trends to be aware of for E-2 interviews:
First, some officers are Googling applicants during the interview, particularly if you have an unusual name. We’ve heard this from colleagues and it has played out in real cases. If you have a distinctive name, know what comes up when someone searches it. You should know your own digital footprint.
Second, formal social media vetting is currently focused on F-1, M-1, J-1, and H-1B applicants — not yet E-2 applicants. But that could shift quickly. Officers can already look at public social media, even if they aren’t required to. Treat your social presence as part of your application package.
Current Wait Times by Consulate (Summer 2026)
Wait times vary widely and shift over time. Here’s the current picture for the consulates we work with most often.
- Toronto: six to eight weeks for most of 2025, somewhat variable in early 2026 after a system hiccup that disrupted scheduling.
- London: roughly four months — slow and has been since late summer 2024.
- Melbourne: moving at a reasonable pace; recent approvals in roughly eight to ten weeks from filing.
- Sydney and Perth: also moving, with Perth often the fastest of the three Australian posts if you can travel there.
- Bogotá, Istanbul, and Amman: plan for six to seven months. These are real, current realities — not worst-case scenarios.
Summer scheduling is also affected by consular rotations. U.S. consular officers move posts in August and September, so a Toronto interview in early September might be your first interaction with an officer who just arrived from a country that processes very few E-2s a year. Expect to see some slowdown at otherwise efficient posts during those months as new officers come up to speed.
Bottom Line for Summer 2026
The E-2 and E-1 visa categories are stable, real, and working in 2026. Approvals are happening. The work is in planning around the practical shifts — third-country filing, the all-ages interview rule, the USCIS change-of-status risk, the asylum question, and consulate-specific wait times.
If you have a business in your home country with significant U.S. trade, please take a serious look at the E-1. It is dramatically underused and may be the right visa for you. And whichever path fits your situation, we’re happy to talk it through.
About the author
Angie Rupert is the founder of Rupert Law. Her firm works exclusively on E-2 and E-1 visas, helping investors and entrepreneurs from treaty countries move to (and stay in) the United States.
