An E-2 Visa is a visa option available for people who want to either buy or start a business in the U.S.. One of the requirements of an E-2 visa is that the investor must invest money in the U.S.. The money can come from any legitimate source and that includes a loan or a gift.
You can find out more about the full set of E-2 visa requirement by clicking here.
You can find out more about E-2 Investments from loans or gifts by clicking here.
Our E-2 visa clients often ask the question: What should be in an E-2 gift letter? To this end, we have included some guidance below.
Date
To: Whom it may concern
My name is Name and I am the describe relationship of Investor’s name. I am giving a gift of $XXX to my relationship to develop his/her business, name of business. Provide a brief description of how you earned or got the money (eg, The gift is from personal savings earned from working or The gift is from funds I received from the sale of my property). There is no repayment expected or implied.
Sincerely,
Name & signature
The E-2 visa regulations do not restrict who a gift can come from but the narrative should make sense. For example, a gift from a parent or sibling makes complete sense given the inherent closeness of the relationship. A gift though from an unrelated party or a friend where the gift does not really make sense may raise questions. If the relationship between the applicant and the person giving the E-2 gift is not based on a close relationship, an examiner can question the legitimacy of the gift as it is not that common in life for friends to gift large sums of money (at least I do not have any friends that would do that). This is especially the case if the friend does not have substantial resources. (eg. A friend that earns $75K per year and gifts $50K to a friend).
If an applicant is buying a business, the owner/seller of the business CANNOT be the person that gifts the money to the buyer.
FREE E-2 Visa Resources
Click on the buttons below in order to claim your free E-2 Visa Guide, sign up for our free E-2 Visa Webinar, join our Facebook Group, or watch our E-2 Visa videos.
Set up an E-2 Visa Consultation
For a dedicated one-on-one E-2 Visa consultation with one of our lawyers, click on the button below to schedule your consultation.
This website and blog constitutes attorney advertising. Do not consider anything in this website or blog legal advice and nothing in this website constitutes an attorney-client relationship being formed. Set up a one-hour consultation with us before acting on anything you read here. Past results are no guarantee of future results and prior results do not imply or predict future results. Each case is different and must be judged on its own merits.
