Legally reviewed by Joseph Mayo, Principal Attorney (Ontario and New York).
If you are researching E-2 visa countries, you are asking the first question that actually decides the case. Everything else about the E-2 visa, the size of the investment, the business plan, the interview, only matters once nationality is settled. The State Department publishes a single official table of treaty countries, and as of August 2026 it lists 81 countries under the E-2 classification. Canada is one of them.
What that table does not tell you at a glance is that two of the listed countries are not genuinely open to new investors, that the E-1 and E-2 lists are different lists, and that your own passport is only one of three places nationality is tested. This guide sets out the current list and the rules underneath it, with the official source for each point.
Quick answer
The United States lists 81 countries whose nationals may qualify for an E-2 treaty investor visa. Canada has been on that list since January 1, 1994. Eligibility follows citizenship rather than residence, and two listed countries are closed or closing to new investors.
Which countries qualify for an E-2 visa?
The controlling source for E-2 visa countries is the Treaty Countries table published by the U.S. Department of State. Read on August 13, 2026, that table contains 136 country and classification rows. Counted by classification, it lists 54 countries for E-1 treaty trader status, 81 countries for E-2 treaty investor status, and one country, Australia, for the E-3 classification.
Grouping the E-2 visa countries by region gives a clearer picture of where treaty coverage is dense and where it is thin. Western Europe is almost completely covered. Sub-Saharan Africa has a handful of entries. The large emerging economies of China, India, Brazil and Russia are absent, and no amount of investment substitutes for a treaty.
The 81 E-2 treaty countries
The table below reproduces every country listed under the E-2 classification, with the date the treaty entered into force and whether the same country also carries an E-1 treaty trader route. It was read from the State Department page on August 13, 2026. Because entries are added and restricted by footnote, treat it as a snapshot and check the official page before relying on it.
| Country | E-2 entered into force | E-1 route also |
|---|---|---|
| Albania | January 4, 1998 | No |
| Argentina | December 20, 1854 | Yes |
| Armenia | March 29, 1996 | No |
| Australia | December 27, 1991 | Yes |
| Austria | May 27, 1931 | Yes |
| Azerbaijan | August 2, 2001 | No |
| Bahrain | May 30, 2001 | No |
| Bangladesh | July 25, 1989 | No |
| Belgium | October 3, 1963 | Yes |
| Bolivia | June 6, 2001 | Yes |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | November 15, 1982 | Yes |
| Bulgaria | June 2, 1954 | No |
| Cameroon | April 6, 1989 | No |
| Canada | January 1, 1994 | Yes |
| Chile | January 1, 2004 | Yes |
| China (Taiwan) | November 30, 1948 | Yes |
| Colombia | June 10, 1948 | Yes |
| Congo (Brazzaville) | August 13, 1994 | No |
| Congo (Kinshasa) | July 28, 1989 | No |
| Costa Rica | May 26, 1852 | Yes |
| Croatia | November 15, 1982 | Yes |
| Czech Republic | January 1, 1993 | No |
| Denmark | December 10, 2008 | Yes |
| Ecuador | May 11, 1997 | No |
| Egypt | June 27, 1992 | No |
| Estonia | February 16, 1997 | Yes |
| Ethiopia | October 8, 1953 | Yes |
| Finland | December 1, 1992 | Yes |
| France | December 21, 1960 | Yes |
| Georgia | August 17, 1997 | No |
| Germany | July 14, 1956 | Yes |
| Grenada | March 3, 1989 | No |
| Honduras | July 19, 1928 | Yes |
| Ireland | November 18, 1992 | Yes |
| Israel | May 1, 2019 | Yes |
| Italy | July 26, 1949 | Yes |
| Jamaica | March 7, 1997 | No |
| Japan | October 30, 1953 | Yes |
| Jordan | December 17, 2001 | Yes |
| Kazakhstan | January 12, 1994 | No |
| Korea (South) | November 7, 1957 | Yes |
| Kosovo | November 15, 1882 | Yes |
| Kyrgyzstan | January 12, 1994 | No |
| Latvia | December 26, 1996 | Yes |
| Liberia | November 21, 1939 | Yes |
| Lithuania | November 22, 2001 | No |
| Luxembourg | March 28, 1963 | Yes |
| Macedonia | November 15, 1982 | Yes |
| Mexico | January 1, 1994 | Yes |
| Moldova | November 25, 1994 | No |
| Mongolia | January 1, 1997 | No |
| Montenegro | November 15, 1882 | Yes |
| Morocco | May 29, 1991 | No |
| Netherlands | December 5, 1957 | Yes |
| Norway | January 18, 1928 | Yes |
| Oman | June 11, 1960 | Yes |
| Pakistan | February 12, 1961 | Yes |
| Panama | May 30, 1991 | No |
| Paraguay | March 07, 1860 | Yes |
| Philippines | September 6, 1955 | Yes |
| Poland | August 6, 1994 | Yes |
| Portugal | March 15, 2024 | Yes |
| Romania | January 15, 1994 | No |
| Senegal | October 25, 1990 | No |
| Serbia | November 15,1882 | Yes |
| Singapore | January 1, 2004 | Yes |
| Slovak Republic | January 1, 1993 | No |
| Slovenia | November 15, 1982 | Yes |
| Spain | April 14, 1903 | Yes |
| Sri Lanka | May 1, 1993 | No |
| Suriname | February 10, 1963 | Yes |
| Sweden | February 20, 1992 | Yes |
| Switzerland | November 08, 1855 | Yes |
| Thailand | June 8, 1968 | Yes |
| Togo | February 5, 1967 | Yes |
| Trinidad & Tobago | December 26, 1996 | No |
| Tunisia | February 7, 1993 | No |
| Turkey | May 18, 1990 | Yes |
| Ukraine | November 16, 1996 | No |
| United Kingdom | July 03, 1815 | Yes |
| Yugoslavia | November 15, 1882 | Yes |
A few entries need reading carefully rather than scanning. The row labelled China refers to Taiwan. Footnote 1 of the table explains that the agreement was concluded with the Taiwan authorities before January 1, 1979 and is administered on a nongovernmental basis by the American Institute in Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, Public Law 96-8. It confers nothing on nationals of the People’s Republic of China.
The United Kingdom entry is also narrower than it looks. Footnote 10 records that the convention, in force since July 3, 1815, applies only to British territory in Europe, defined as the British Isles excluding the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, and applies to inhabitants of that territory, meaning a person who resides actually and permanently there and has a domicile there. A British passport issued through an overseas territory does not automatically carry E-2 eligibility.
A group of entries in the table trace their eligibility to a single old instrument. Footnote 11 explains that the United States treats the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as dissolved and considers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo to remain bound by the treaty that was in force with the SFRY at the time of dissolution. The table also still carries a row labelled Yugoslavia, a state the same footnote describes as dissolved.
Read closely, those rows do not agree with each other. Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and the Yugoslavia row are printed with an entry into force date of November 15, 1882. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia are printed as November 15, 1982, a century later, under the same footnote and the same treaty. Nothing on the page resolves which is intended, and we are not going to guess at it. If your case turns on that date, confirm it with the consular post rather than relying on the table.
What is the difference between E-1 and E-2 treaty countries?
Many summaries present one combined roster of treaty countries. The official table does not work that way. E-1 is the treaty trader classification and E-2 is the treaty investor classification, and a country can appear under one without the other.
Of the 83 countries appearing under either classification, 52 appear under both. Two appear only under E-1: Brunei and Greece. Twenty-nine appear only under E-2, a group that includes Albania, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Jamaica, Morocco, Panama, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. A Greek national who is trading with the United States may have an E-1 route and no E-2 route at all.
The two classifications also test different things. For E-1, USCIS requires the trader to carry on substantial trade and principal trade between the United States and the treaty country, where principal trade exists when over 50% of the volume of the trader’s international trade is between the two countries. Substantial trade means a continuous flow of numerous transactions over time, and USCIS states there is no minimum requirement regarding the monetary value or volume of each transaction. For E-2, the test is a substantial investment of capital in a bona fide enterprise the investor will develop and direct.
Nine countries carry different entry into force dates for the two classifications, which matters when a treaty was extended to investment long after it covered trade. Turkey is the clearest example: E-1 since February 15, 1933, but E-2 only since May 18, 1990. Israel is the most recent, and footnote 15 explains why. The 1954 treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation gave Israeli nationals E-1 status but not E-2. Public Law 112-130, enacted June 8, 2012, accorded E-2 status, and the table records it as entering into force on May 1, 2019.
Which listed countries are not open to new E-2 investors?
This is the part of the table that a country list alone will not show you, and it is the reason a count of 81 overstates what is practically available today.
Bolivia appears in the E-2 column with an entry into force date of June 6, 2001. Footnote 13 qualifies it heavily. Bolivian nationals with qualifying investments in place in the United States by June 10, 2012 continued to be entitled to E-2 classification until June 10, 2022. That date has passed. The footnote limits eligibility to applicants coming to the United States to engage in E-2 activity in furtherance of covered investments established or acquired before June 10, 2012. A Bolivian national forming a new United States business in 2026 is not within that description.
Ecuador sits at the same point on a later timetable. Footnote 14 records that Ecuadorian nationals with qualifying investments in place by May 18, 2018 continue to be entitled to E-2 classification until May 18, 2028, with the same restriction to investments established or acquired before May 18, 2018. That window is still open as of August 2026, and it closes in under two years.
Read with the footnotes, the practical figure for a new investor in August 2026 is 80 countries rather than 81, and one of those 80 is running against a published deadline. Neither point appears in most published country lists, which is a good reason to check the table itself and its footnotes rather than a summary of it.
Is Canada an E-2 treaty country?
Yes. Canada appears in the table under both classifications, E-1 and E-2, each with an entry into force date of January 1, 1994. Canadian citizens therefore satisfy the nationality element of the E-2 visa without any additional step, which is why the E-2 is the route most often considered by Canadian owners buying or building a business in the United States.
Two Canada specific details are worth knowing. First, nationality is not the same as the visa waiver treatment Canadians are used to at the border. An E-2 still requires either a visa issued by a consular post or a change of status granted inside the United States, and those two routes are not interchangeable. Our guide to E-2 visa processing time sets out how each route runs and why leaving the country after a change of status creates a problem.
Second, there is a rule in the regulations that names Canadians directly. Under 8 CFR 214.2(e)(22), a strike or other labor dispute involving a work stoppage at the intended place of employment may affect a Canadian or Mexican treaty investor or employee’s ability to obtain E-2 status. It is a narrow provision and it rarely bites, but it exists only for the two CUSMA partners.
If you are working through the Canadian side specifically, our page on the E-2 visa from Canada covers the consular process at the Toronto post, and the E-2 visa requirements guide sets out the investment and business tests that follow once nationality is established.
How is nationality decided if you hold more than one passport?
Eligibility follows citizenship, not birthplace and not residence. A person born outside a treaty country who later naturalizes as a citizen of one is a national of that country for treaty purposes. A person born in a treaty country who has given up that citizenship is not.
Dual nationals present the ordinary case rather than a difficult one. If one of your nationalities is a treaty country, that is the nationality the application is built on, and the rest of the case must be consistent with it. The practical consequence is that the choice of nationality is not cosmetic. It fixes which country your company’s ownership has to trace back to and which nationality your E-2 employees must hold, both of which are covered in the next section.
One point often missed in the other direction: your family is not held to the same test. USCIS states that treaty investors and employees may be accompanied or followed by spouses and unmarried children under 21, and that their nationalities need not be the same as the treaty investor or employee. Nationality is tested strictly at three points in an E-2 case and dependents are not one of them.
Why does your company’s nationality matter as much as yours?
This is where a list of E-2 visa countries stops being enough. Under the USCIS rules, nationality is tested in three separate places, and each has its own regulation.
The investor is the first test. To qualify, the treaty investor must be a national of a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation. The investor must also have invested, or be actively in the process of investing, a substantial amount of capital in a bona fide enterprise in the United States, and must be seeking to enter solely to develop and direct that enterprise. USCIS states that developing and directing is established by showing at least 50% ownership of the enterprise or possession of operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device.
The enterprise is the second test, and it is the one that surprises people. Where the principal employer is not an individual, it must be an enterprise or organization at least 50% owned by persons in the United States who hold the nationality of the treaty country. Those owners must in turn either be maintaining nonimmigrant treaty investor status or, if they are not in the United States, be classifiable as treaty investors if they sought admission. The citation is 8 CFR 214.2(e)(3)(ii). A company owned half by Canadians and half by nationals of a non-treaty country does not clear it.
The employee is the third test. An employee of a treaty investor must be of the same nationality as the principal alien employer, must meet the definition of employee under relevant law, and must either perform duties of an executive or supervisory character or, in a lesser capacity, hold special qualifications. Executive and supervisory duties are defined at 8 CFR 214.2(e)(17) and special qualifications at 8 CFR 214.2(e)(18). USCIS notes that knowledge of a foreign language and culture does not by itself meet the special qualifications requirement.
The effect is that a Canadian owner cannot use the E-2 to move a senior manager who holds a non-treaty passport. That manager needs a different category. Choosing the right one alongside an E-2 is ordinary cross-border planning, and it belongs in the structure of the deal rather than in the visa application. Our business immigration practice page sets out the categories we work with.
The enterprise must also be real and not marginal. A bona fide enterprise is a real, active and operating commercial or entrepreneurial undertaking producing services or goods for profit. A marginal enterprise is one without the present or future capacity to generate more than enough income to provide a minimal living for the investor and family, and where a new enterprise lacks that capacity now it should have it within five years from the date E-2 classification begins, under 8 CFR 214.2(e)(15). The best businesses for E-2 visa approval guide works through what that means in practice.
What if your country is not on the E-2 treaty list?
There is no waiver of the nationality requirement and no investment amount that creates one. If your country is absent, the honest options are structural rather than procedural.
The first is a different visa category. The E-2 is one of several routes for someone building or buying a business in the United States, and the right one depends on whether there is a foreign parent company, whether the role is executive, and how permanent the move is intended to be. The comparison is worth doing properly before committing capital, because the investment that satisfies one category may not satisfy another.
The second is acquiring the nationality of a treaty country, which is a genuine route and also the one most often oversold. It is a multi year commitment governed by another country’s citizenship law, not a step in a visa application, and it should be assessed on its own terms first.
The third is to check the assumption. Some applicants who believe they are ineligible are looking at the wrong entry, particularly where the table’s footnotes extend a treaty to territories. Footnote 6 records that the Netherlands treaty of December 5, 1957 applies to Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Footnote 9 records that the same treaty was made applicable to Suriname on February 10, 1963. Footnote 8 records that the Spanish treaty of April 14, 1903 applies to all territories, while footnote 7 records that the Norwegian treaty of September 13, 1932 does not apply to Svalbard. Territorial scope is decided entry by entry.
How the list has changed, and how to check it
The table is not static, and additions come through legislation as often as through new treaties. Portugal is the most recent addition. Footnote 17 records that Public Law 117-263, enacted December 23, 2022, accorded Portuguese nationals E-1 and E-2 status conditional on Portugal offering similar status to United States nationals, that the Department confirmed it does, and the table records entry into force on March 15, 2024. New Zealand arrived the same way through Public Law 115-226, enacted August 1, 2018.
Because entries are added, restricted and sunset by footnote, a list of E-2 visa countries republished by a third party is only as current as the day it was copied. Before relying on eligibility, check the State Department table itself and read the footnote attached to the country. Where the answer decides whether to commit capital, it is worth confirming with counsel rather than a summary.
For what happens after nationality is settled, our guides on the E-2 visa application process, the E-2 visa cost, and E-2 visa interview questions cover the rest of the sequence. Approval outcomes vary considerably by post and nationality, which the E-2 visa approval rate analysis looks at directly.
Frequently asked questions
How many E-2 visa countries are there?
The Department of State table lists 81 E-2 visa countries as of August 13, 2026. Read with the footnotes, 80 are practically available to a new investor, because Bolivia’s transitional period for new E-2 eligibility ended on June 10, 2022 and now covers only investments established or acquired before June 10, 2012.
Is Canada on the E-2 treaty country list?
Yes. Canada appears under both the E-1 and E-2 classifications, each with an entry into force date of January 1, 1994. Canadian citizenship satisfies the nationality element of the E-2 without any further step, though the investment, business and non-marginality tests still apply in full.
Are the E-1 and E-2 country lists the same?
No. The table lists 54 countries for E-1 and 81 for E-2, with 52 appearing under both. Brunei and Greece appear only under E-1, and 29 countries appear only under E-2. Nine countries carry different entry into force dates for the two classifications, so a country’s E-1 date does not establish its E-2 date.
Can I get an E-2 visa if I hold two passports?
Eligibility follows citizenship, so holding the citizenship of a treaty country is what matters, whether by birth or naturalization. The nationality you rely on then governs the rest of the case, including the requirement that the United States enterprise be at least 50% owned by nationals of that same treaty country.
Does my company also need to be from a treaty country?
Yes, where the principal employer is not an individual. Under 8 CFR 214.2(e)(3)(ii) the enterprise must be at least 50% owned by persons in the United States holding the treaty country’s nationality, who are maintaining treaty investor status or would be classifiable as treaty investors. Ownership split evenly with non-treaty nationals does not satisfy it.
Do my spouse and children need to be from a treaty country?
No. USCIS states that spouses and unmarried children under 21 may accompany or follow the treaty investor or employee and that their nationalities need not be the same. Dependents are the one place in an E-2 case where the nationality test does not apply.
What happens if my country is removed from the list?
Removal is handled by footnote and transition rather than immediate cutoff. Both Bolivia and Ecuador show the pattern: existing qualifying investments made before a stated date remain covered for a defined period, and new investors lose the route. Ecuador’s period runs to May 18, 2028.
Conclusion
The list of E-2 visa countries is the shortest part of an E-2 case and the part that decides whether there is a case at all. As of August 2026 the official table lists 81 countries for E-2, Canada among them since 1994, with Bolivia effectively closed and Ecuador running to a 2028 deadline. The list is also only the first of three nationality tests, because the enterprise and any transferred employees must trace to the same treaty country while dependents need not.
If your nationality is settled, the next questions are how much to invest, what the business has to look like, and which filing route fits your timing. Those are answered by the facts of the business rather than by the table.
How Mayo Law can help
Mayo Law is a cross-border firm with offices in Toronto and New York. Principal attorney Joseph Mayo is licensed in Ontario and in New York, which means the Canadian side of a move and the United States side can be handled by the same firm rather than coordinated between two.
For E-2 matters we work on the questions this article raises: confirming that nationality holds across the investor, the enterprise and any employees being transferred, structuring United States ownership so the 50% test is satisfied and stays satisfied, and choosing between consular processing and a change of status. If you are weighing an investment into the United States and want the nationality position confirmed before you commit, our E-2 visa lawyer page explains how we work and how to start.
Disclaimer
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create a solicitor-client or attorney-client relationship with Mayo Law. Treaty country entries, footnotes and immigration rules change, and the position stated here reflects the sources cited as of August 13, 2026. You should obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting. Legal services are provided in Ontario by Mayo Law PC and in New York by Joseph Mayo PLLC.
