The single most common question we get is some version of: how long will this take, and is what I’m planning realistic?
Here’s the honest answer for 2026, broken down by what you actually control, what your attorney controls, and what is entirely up to the U.S. government. Along the way, we’ll cover when the E-1 is the right call instead of the E-2, what dual nationals need to know, and why we almost always recommend applying at a consulate rather than through USCIS.
When the E-1 Makes Sense (and Why It’s Underused)
The E-1 — the treaty trader visa — is the visa most people forget. It is designed for businesses that conduct substantial trade between a treaty country and the United States, in goods or in services.
The classic E-1 fact pattern: you have a Canadian or Mexican business — IT support, marketing, professional services — and a large share of your clients are in the United States. You need to be in the U.S. more often, and you want to grow your U.S. book of business. That’s an E-1.
Or, less commonly: you already have a U.S. business but live abroad, and you regularly import goods or services from your home country into that U.S. business. You need to be in the U.S. more to grow that trade. That’s also an E-1.
What makes the E-1 powerful is what it doesn’t require: no minimum investment, no U.S. employees, no U.S. office space. If you qualify, you can move on it relatively fast — because most of the proof is in documents you already have.
Dual Nationals: What’s Changed for Change of Status
One change-of-status nuance worth understanding in 2026: if you hold a treaty country passport but were also born in — or hold a passport from — a country that appears on one of the recent restricted lists, your change-of-status filing can be affected.
Multiple lists have come and gone over the last fourteen months. Whether a particular case is affected is fact-specific. If you have dual nationality or were born in a country that could fall on one of those lists, raise that with your attorney early. There are usually paths forward, but they need to be planned.
Single Intent vs. Real Life: Can You Live in the U.S. on an E-2?
The E-2 is technically a single-intent visa. Officially, you are coming to the United States to direct and develop your business, and you intend to leave when your authorization expires. There is no built-in path from the E-2 to a green card.
Practically? E-2 visas can be renewed indefinitely as long as you continue to meet the requirements. And the U.S. government expects you to spend real time in the country — you can’t run a U.S. business by Zoom from another continent. We recommend our clients spend at least seven months a year in the U.S. on E-2 status. It does not have to be one continuous block; it can be broken up across the year.
How do you reconcile single intent with the reality of living in the U.S.? Most applications include a short letter of intent to return — a statement from you that you have no intention of overstaying your authorized period and that you maintain ties outside the United States. Some consulates have page limits and don’t accept this; others don’t ask for it. But it’s typically the cleanest way to address the issue.
The Three Phases of the E-2 Process — and Realistic Timelines
Phase 1: Document Gathering
We provide a checklist of every document we need to support the six E-2 requirements. You upload everything to a shared workspace. The pace here is on you. Average time to finish phase one is twelve to sixteen weeks. Some clients move through it in eight weeks; some take more than a year. Remember — you are typically starting a real business on a new continent. That doesn’t happen in a weekend.
Phase 2: Application Assembly
Once we have everything we need from you, we assemble the application: cover letter, exhibits, organization, the works. This is on us, and it typically takes ten to twelve business days.
Phase 3: Government Processing and Interview
Once we file, we are all at the mercy of the consulate. You and I have the same amount of control here: none. Some posts process in six to eight weeks. Others run multiple months. Wait times shift over the course of the year and are affected by staffing rotations, scheduling system changes, and demand at specific posts.
Six Months: Realistic. Ninety Days: Not Realistic.
If you start today and you are applying through Toronto, can you have your visa interview six months from now? Yes. That is a realistic timeline. We do this all the time.
Can you have an E-2 visa in your hand in ninety days? Almost certainly not. There are too many moving pieces — the business has to be real and operational, documents have to be assembled, the government has to process — to compress into three months. Anyone telling you otherwise is either talking about a very unusual case or setting you up to be disappointed.
Toronto Wait Times in 2026
Toronto has been a relatively predictable consulate for E-2 cases. Throughout most of 2025, the wait from filing to interview ran about six to eight weeks. Early 2026 has been more variable — there was a scheduling system issue a few weeks ago that disrupted about 600 applicants’ interviews — but cases are still moving. We have approvals coming out of Toronto regularly.
USCIS vs. Consulate: Why We Almost Always Recommend the Consulate
If you are already in the United States, you generally have two options: file a change of status with USCIS without leaving, or go home and apply at the consulate. We almost always recommend the consulate. Here’s why.
The NTA Risk
Under a March 2025 policy change, if USCIS denies your change-of-status petition after your I-94 has expired, you can be issued a Notice to Appear in immigration court. That means deportation proceedings — and the NTA follows you even if you leave the country afterward. For applicants currently on B-1/B-2 status, the timeline almost never works, and the downside is severe.
International Travel Lockout
If you change status through USCIS, you’re approved for E-2 status but you don’t have an E-2 visa stamp in your passport. The moment you leave the U.S., you can’t come back until you apply for the visa at a consulate abroad. If a family emergency takes you out of the country in month fourteen of a two-year status, you have to fly to your home consulate, apply, interview, and wait — all before you can re-enter.
By contrast, an E-2 visa stamp obtained at a consulate is typically valid for several years (the exact period depends on your country’s reciprocity schedule), and you can come and go freely during that period.
Cost
Consulate filings are dramatically cheaper. The visa fee is typically $315 per person, plus a few hundred dollars of reciprocity for some countries (Australia and the Netherlands are notable exceptions on the high end). A USCIS change-of-status filing for a family of four, with premium processing — which we always require to manage the timeline risk — can easily reach four thousand dollars in government fees alone.
Should You Form a U.S. LLC Before You File?
Sometimes. Forming a Delaware or other U.S. LLC takes only a few days, so having the entity in place can save you a small amount of time. It will not meaningfully shorten the overall E-2 timeline.
The real time sinks in document gathering aren’t entity formation. They are the things you can’t fully control: waiting on a permit, waiting on a vendor to send a signed agreement, waiting on a bank to process funds, redoing a government form because section 8b was filled out wrong. These are normal, and they’re why we tell every client to build patience into the schedule. The plan is going to hit some bumps. That’s okay.
Next Steps
If you’re planning a U.S. move on an E-2 or E-1 visa, the right starting point is usually a one-on-one consultation. We work exclusively on E-2 and E-1 visas, which means we can quickly tell you whether your fact pattern fits one of these categories, what your realistic timeline looks like, and what the next concrete step should be.
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.
