E-2 visa for Italian founders: who qualifies and how to apply

Italian nationals have been able to apply for the E-2 since 26 July 1949. It’s the US visa for people who invest in an American business and move to run it. Today the route runs through a single office, the US Embassy in Rome, which takes applications only by email, as one package of seven PDFs.

This guide reads the E-2 visa from an Italian founder’s side of the desk: who qualifies, what ‘substantial’ means without a minimum, the Rome procedure, fees and duration, the alternatives and what it all means for your company’s structure. New to startups altogether? Begin with our beginner’s map, from zero to a first round.

What is the E-2 visa, and can Italian founders get it?

First, the treaty. The E-2 is temporary, and it exists for nationals of countries bound to the United States by a treaty of commerce and navigation. Italy has one, so Italians can use both treaty visas: E-1 if you trade, E-2 if you invest. A founder who funds a US company and moves to run it needs the second.

The official requirements fit in a paragraph. Both you and the US enterprise need Italian nationality; for the company, that means Italians own at least 50% of it. Then the money. The investment has to be substantial, in a business that’s real and operating and that earns more than a living for your family, or has a significant economic impact. Last comes intent: you go to develop and direct the business, and you plan to leave when your E-2 status ends.

One detail surprises people. A company’s nationality follows its owners, not its address, so a Delaware corporation owned by two founders from Turin counts as Italian. Shares held by US green-card holders can’t count toward the 50%, and the embassy adds that US dual citizens don’t qualify either. Staff are covered too: an Italian employee can get an E-2 for an executive or supervisory role, or for essential skills.

E-2 visa requirements: how much do you need to invest?

There’s no number to aim for. The Foreign Affairs Manual, the State Department’s rulebook for consular officers, is blunt: ‘No set dollar figure constitutes a minimum amount of investment to be considered “substantial”‘. Officers apply a proportionality test, an inverted sliding scale. The lower the cost of the business, the higher the percentage of it you’re expected to put in.

The manual adds three more tests:

• At risk and committed. Funds sitting in a bank account generally don’t count; money in escrow, released only if the visa is issued, can. A commercial loan secured by the company’s own assets doesn’t count either.
• More than marginal. The business needs the capacity to produce more than a minimal living for you and your family, and the embassy expects that within five years of start-up.
• You also need control of the business, normally through at least 50% ownership or operational control. A management title alone isn’t enough.

Then there’s the money trail. The embassy wants to see where the funds came from (a property sale, an inheritance, savings, the sale of a business), how they reached the US account and what they bought, with each invoice matched to a bank debit.

An invented example shows the logic. Two founders from Turin set up a US company to sell quality-control software to American manufacturers. Their plan needs $180,000 to be operating. By the time they file, they’ve wired $150,000 from Italy, spent $95,000 against invoices and signed contracts for most of the rest. An officer can follow that file. The same $150,000 left idle in a US account would make a far weaker one. No amount guarantees a visa.

Applying for an E-2 visa from Italy: the Rome route

1. Everyone travelling needs a DS-160, so fill one in for yourself and one for each family member coming along. Pick Rome as the location.
2. Sign up on Yatri, the embassy’s appointment system. Then pay the application fee, which isn’t refundable.
3. Seven PDFs make up the package, one per tab and 5 MB at most each, written in English or Italian. No links to shared folders.
4. Email it in one message to the E visa unit at RomeEvisas@state.gov, with the subject line the embassy specifies. Electronic submission is the only accepted method.
5. Wait for the receipt email. Incomplete or badly formatted packages come back.
6. After review you get an online notice to book the interview in Rome, where fingerprints are usually taken.
7. If approved, the passport arrives by DHL, on average a week after the interview, unless further administrative processing is needed.

Tab	What goes in	Page limit
A. Contents	Table of contents	Not stated
B. Forms	DS-160 confirmations, fee receipt, Form DS-156E for the principal applicant, Form G-28 if a lawyer represents you	Not stated
C. Applicant	CV, family certificates, a signed statement that you’ll leave the US when E status ends	Not stated
D. Ownership	Articles of incorporation or organisation, share certificates or operating agreement; with holding companies, an ownership chart and proof at every link	Not stated
E. Investment	A cover letter on each E-2 requirement, an investment spreadsheet, the money trail	40 single-sided pages
F. Real and operating	Licences, monthly bank statements for the current year	20 pages
G. Marginality	Tax returns, payroll forms, profit and loss statements; for a startup, a concise business plan and a breakdown of start-up costs	20 pages

Tab G is where a startup’s plan goes, and the embassy is specific: concise, analysing the local market and the competition, with a five-year profit and loss projection supported by external sources. Brochures and photos are discouraged. If your go-to-market plan (who you’ll sell to first, and how) still lives on one slide, write it out now; our go-to-market strategy guide helps.

E-2 visa fees, validity and length of stay

Item	For Italian nationals
Application fee (MRV)	$315, non-refundable
Visa issuance (reciprocity) fee	$198
Visa validity	Up to 60 months, multiple entries
Each admission	Up to 2 years; extensions of up to 2 years at a time, no limit on their number
Spouse	Authorised to work incident to status (I-94 marked E-2S)

Two numbers get confused. Up to 60 months: that’s how long the visa in your passport can be valid. Your stay is set at the border instead, up to two years per entry, and written on your I-94. Extensions come from USCIS, up to two years each, and there’s no limit on how many. It’s still a temporary visa. Overstay your I-94 date and the visa is void automatically, the State Department warns.

The family side is simpler. Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can come with you, and USCIS treats a spouse in valid E-2 status as authorised to work; an unexpired I-94 marked E-2S is the proof.

E-2 vs L-1, O-1 and EB-5: which route fits?

	E-2 treaty investor	L-1A manager or executive	O-1A extraordinary ability	EB-5 investor
Core test	Italian nationality; US company at least 50% Italian-owned; substantial investment at risk	One continuous year out of the last three abroad with the related company, as a manager or executive	Sustained national or international acclaim: a major award, or 3 of 8 listed criteria	$1,050,000, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project; 10 full-time jobs
Who applies	You, at the embassy in Rome	The US employer petitions USCIS first	A US petitioner files with USCIS first	You petition USCIS
How long	Up to 2 years per admission, renewable without limit	Up to 7 years in total	Up to 3 years, then 1-year extensions without limit	Permanent residence (a green card)

For most Italian founders the choice narrows quickly. The L-1 suits a company that already exists in Italy: after a continuous year out of the last three there as a manager or executive, its US parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate can bring you over, even to open a new US office. The O-1 rewards a record (prizes, press, judging others’ work, a high salary), not an investment. The EB-5 is a green card, and its amounts climb on 1 January 2027.

The E-2’s advantage is that nobody sponsors you. You file at the embassy yourself, on the strength of your own investment. The price of that freedom is the 50% rule.

What the E-2 means for your startup’s structure

The 50% test doesn’t stop at the first visa. Raise from American investors, push Italian ownership below half, and the company is no longer an Italian enterprise for E-2 purposes, so the next renewal has to clear a test the company fails. Planning a Delaware flip to court US funds? Model the cap table after each round with this line in it, next to dilution, the share existing owners give up when new shares are issued.

Holding structures work, with paperwork. If the US company belongs to your Italian Srl, the Italian limited liability company, the embassy wants an ownership chart, legal proof of ownership at every link and each owner’s passport page. A co-founder of another nationality can’t ride on the company’s Italian status, because E-2 employees must share the enterprise’s nationality. (Going the other way, with a non-EU partner moving to Milan? See how to open a company in Italy as a foreigner.)

Before any of this sits a plainer question: is the US the right next market? Our guides on how to enter the US market from Italy and choosing a market entry strategy cover it, and our cross-border expansion service is there to work it through with you. Going in through an American accelerator? Read how to apply to Y Combinator before you set up the company. Meanwhile, meetings and negotiations of up to 90 days fit the Visa Waiver Program. Working there doesn’t.

Checklist: before you email Rome

1. Leave out US dual citizens and green-card holders, then count again: do Italians still own at least 50%?
2. Idle money in an account generally won’t do. Spend it on the business or put it in escrow, and pair each invoice with its bank debit.
3. Trace the money from its source to the US account and on to what it paid for.
4. For the business plan, follow the embassy’s brief: the local market, competitors, start-up costs and a five-year P&L backed by outside sources.
5. Where will Italian ownership land after the next two rounds? Model the cap table and find out.
6. Check every PDF against its page limit and the 5 MB cap.
7. Don’t book anything you can’t get refunded until the visa is in your passport.

This article is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Visa rules and fees change: check the US Embassy’s and the State Department’s pages, or ask an immigration lawyer, before you apply.