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What types of franchises are good options for E-2 Visa and how much is the cost?
The E2 Visa allows residents from qualified treaty countries to reside in the USA through business investment. A franchise business can provide many advantages over starting your own business, but not all franchises work with E-2 visa candidates and many do not qualify as a suitable E-2 option.
So what are some of the benefits of choosing a franchise for E2 visa investors? 1. Initial and ongoing support and training from the company. Franchises have proven their business model and can show you how to replicate that success. You are in a new country and starting a business from scratch can be a challenge for anyone, even domestic entrepreneurs. A franchise provides a proven process to help build a successful business. 2. Brand recognition. Your E-2 adjudicator will likely be familiar with the franchise brand, which has greater perceived credibility over an unknown start-up business 3. Business plans. It is typically easier to create projections for your E-2 petition when there are previous statistics available from other franchise owners in the system.
When you look for a franchise keep in mind the overall objective of the E-2 Visa is to create economic benefit for the USA in some way. That is what your adjudicator will be looking for. Economic benefit can be demonstrated in several ways, but one of the most compelling is employing US residents. So businesses with no employees that focus only on the owners profit are not good choices for the E-2 visa. Not that it is impossible, but real estate type businesses or consulting companies with no employees are not ideal and will often result in denial.
Many E-2 visa applicants think of a food franchise first, and food might be an option, but they also come with some drawbacks. We'll look at that in a moment.

1. Service based businesses are often preferred by E-2 Visa candidates because they are lower cost than retail, can be just as profitable as retail, and have much lower operational costs as you operate from a small office or warehouse instead of an expensive retail location. Service based franchises include industries like cleaning, painting, plumbing and electrical, glass repair, mosquito control, construction, senior care and many others. There are many options that will work with E2 visa and the owner does not perform these services, they are hiring employees or contractors to do the work as they operate the business in an executive capacity.
Some of these franchises can be more profitable than a food franchise, but have a lower investment than a restaurant. Some low cost cleaning franchises generate an average of 1.8 million a year, to put that in context an average Subway grosses just over $400k. Service based businesses are also easily and inexpensively scaled. If you start with 2-4 employees as your business expands you add additional vehicles and more employees. This makes your second E-2 interview more compelling as you can quite realistically reach 8-12 employees or more in a short period.
Investment for a service based franchise ranges between $60k - $160k, and we have seen hundreds of E-2 visa applicants approved with these types of businesses.
2. Retail businesses. If you have a larger budget, brick and mortar businesses like restaurants, hair salons, fitness facilities or Medspas can be a good option for the E2 visa. To give an idea of cost
opening a small franchise restaurants will cost a minimum of $200k,and most legacy brands like McDonalds are over a million dollars to open. Hair salons depending on the location and size of footprint will range between $140-$200k+ for a single unit.
A fitness center with a smaller footprint can be obtained for under $200k, larger footprints will be much higher.
Buyers often ask if a resale business is a good option as they see bargain businesses for sale online for as low as $50,000. The problem with these businesses is they are usually financially distressed and they are losing money. A business that is losing money is not a good choice for the E-2 visa as you will have to convince the official how you, a non-US resident, will be able to turn the business around, despite an experienced US resident being unable to make money. Unless you have a compelling business plan and experience in turnarounds, a bargain resale is in most cases not a good choice. If you do have the budget a profitable resale can be a good choice as it has existing cash flow, but most profitable restaurants and hair salons sell for many multiples of their revenue. As a general rule we suggest buyers have a minimum of $200k available to consider looking at resales or brick and mortar businesses

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Problems with buying a bargain resale business:    • E2 Visa Mistake #1   "The Bargain Res...