Investment-Based US Visa Options: E-2, L-1A, EB-5

If you’re exploring a way to live in the US through investment or business ownership, three categories tend to come up: E-2, L-1A, and EB-5. They’re built for different situations — an active entrepreneur, an existing company expanding abroad, and a passive investor, respectively — and picking the wrong one for your circumstances can waste months. This guide compares all three side by side.

Key Facts

• E-2: active investment, no fixed minimum, no direct Green Card, renewable indefinitely
• L-1A: existing company transfers a manager/executive to a US office, indirect Green Card via EB-1C
• EB-5: passive investment of $800,000-$1,050,000, direct Green Card, longer timeline
• Common first step for all three: a B1/B2 visa for exploratory travel, market research, and meetings with advisors

Quick Comparison

	E-2	L-1A	EB-5
Who it’s for	Active entrepreneurs from treaty countries	Managers/executives of an existing foreign company	Passive investors
Minimum investment	No fixed amount — proportional to the business	No fixed amount — enough to establish real operations	$800,000 (TEA) / $1,050,000 (standard)
Active management required?	Yes	Yes, in the foreign role; the US office needs real operations	No
Leads to a Green Card?	Not directly	Indirectly, via EB-1C	Yes, directly
Relative speed	Faster — no annual cap	Faster — no annual cap	Slower — subject to yearly visa limits
Renewable?	Yes, indefinitely while active	Up to 7 years total, then requires a different status	N/A — leads to permanent residence

E-2: Active Investment, No Green Card

The E-2 visa is available to citizens of countries — Turkey included, since 1990 — with a qualifying treaty with the US. There’s no legally fixed minimum investment; instead, the amount needs to be proportional to what the specific business actually costs to establish, genuinely at risk (not just parked in a bank account), and large enough that the business isn’t merely marginal. The tradeoff is that E-2 doesn’t include a path to a Green Card on its own — it’s a renewable nonimmigrant status, not an immigrant one. Our full E-2 visa guide covers the requirements, costs, and family benefits in detail.

L-1A: Expanding an Existing Business Into the US

If you already run or manage a company in Turkey, L-1A lets you transfer to a new or existing US office to grow that same business, rather than starting from scratch.

Core requirements:

• A qualifying relationship between the US and foreign entities (parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate)
• At least 1 continuous year as a manager or executive at the foreign company within the last 3 years
• Evidence the US operation is genuinely active or ready to become active — a leased office, transferred capital, and real business activity, not a virtual address

What it offers:

• Dual intent — unlike many nonimmigrant categories, L-1A explicitly allows pursuing a Green Card at the same time, typically via the related EB-1C immigrant category, which benefits from a comparatively fast process and doesn’t require PERM labor certification
• Family benefits — a spouse and unmarried children under 21 can accompany the L-1A holder; spouses are eligible for work authorization
• A defined but extendable timeline — new-office petitions typically start with an initial period before extensions, capping out at 7 years total for L-1A status

A virtual office or a shell entity with no real operations is a common way L-1A petitions get denied — US authorities expect to see a functioning, physically real business before approving the transfer.

EB-5: Passive Investment, Direct Green Card

EB-5 is built for a different kind of investor: someone who wants permanent residence without running the underlying business day-to-day.

• Investment threshold: $800,000 for a project in a targeted employment area (rural or high-unemployment), or $1,050,000 for a standard-area project — figures set by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, in effect since March 2022 and due for a further inflation-linked increase roughly every 5 years
• Job creation: the investment needs to create or preserve 10 full-time jobs for qualifying US workers
• Passive by design: most EB-5 investors go through a designated regional center, which pools capital into a qualifying project — active day-to-day management isn’t required, unlike E-2 or L-1A
• Path to residence: approval leads to a 2-year conditional Green Card, followed by a petition to remove conditions once the job-creation requirement is documented
• Timeline: typically the slowest of the three, since EB-5 is subject to annual per-country visa number limits that can create multi-year backlogs depending on when you file

The single most scrutinized part of an EB-5 petition is proving the invested capital was obtained through entirely legal means — a complete, well-documented paper trail matters as much as the investment itself.

Other Options Worth Knowing

• E-1 (Treaty Trader) — for companies already conducting substantial, continuous trade between the US and a treaty country, evidenced by invoices and shipping records typically covering the past 1-2 years. This suits an established trading relationship rather than a new investment.
• O-1A (Extraordinary Ability) — for individuals with a strong track record of achievement in their field, and often a first step toward the EB-1A immigrant category later on.

Which One Actually Fits You?

As a rough starting point: if you’re building or buying a business you’ll run yourself and don’t need a Green Card immediately, E-2 is usually the more direct path. If you already own or manage a company in Turkey and want to grow it into the US market, L-1A lets you do that while keeping a Green Card option open. If your priority is permanent residence itself, and you’re comfortable with a larger, more passive investment and a longer timeline, EB-5 is built for exactly that. None of these decisions should be made without a US immigration attorney reviewing your specific business and financial situation.

Why a B1/B2 Trip Usually Comes First

Regardless of which category eventually fits, most people pursuing an investment-based visa start with a B1/B2 visa — using it for market research, scouting office locations, and meeting the attorneys and accountants who’ll help structure the actual filing. A well-documented, properly used B1/B2 travel history can also work in your favor once you do file.

Where Vizeyon Fits In

Structuring and filing an E-2, L-1A, or EB-5 case is specialized immigration-law work that sits outside what we do directly — for that, you’ll want a US immigration attorney experienced in the specific category. Where we can help is the step that usually comes first: getting your B1/B2 visa in place for the exploratory trip. Request a free pre-assessment if that’s where you’re starting.