E-2 Visa for Taiwanese Citizens: Treaty Status and How to Apply

Most E-2 eligibility flows from bilateral treaties of commerce and navigation that the U.S. has signed with specific countries. Taiwan is on the State Department list of E-2 treaty countries because of the 1948 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the United States and the Republic of China. The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 provided that treaties in force between the U.S. and the Republic of China as of January 1, 1979 continue in effect, giving Taiwan nationals the same commercial-treaty rights they held before the U.S. shifted diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China.

What this means practically is that a national of Taiwan holding a valid Taiwan passport can file an E-2 visa application, provided all substantive investment requirements are met. The nationality requirement under 9 FAM 402.9-4(B) is satisfied by the applicant's Taiwan nationality, not by residency or a second passport. An applicant who holds both a Taiwan passport and citizenship of a non-treaty country should confirm with counsel which nationality controls before filing.

Because the U.S. has no formal embassy in Taiwan, E-2 visa applications from Taiwan nationals are processed through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which operates visa services from its offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung. The AIT functions as the de facto consulate for U.S. visa processing in Taiwan. Applicants complete Form DS-160, pay the applicable MRV fee, schedule an interview at AIT, and attend the interview with the same documentary package that would be required at a U.S. embassy anywhere else.

Taiwanese nationals living in the United States in valid status can instead file Form I-129 with USCIS to change status to E-2 without leaving the country. The I-129 route grants E-2 status in the U.S. but does not issue a visa stamp, which means the applicant will need to visit AIT for an E-2 visa stamp before any international travel. Many Taiwanese applicants already in the U.S. on F-1, L-1, H-1B, or B-2 status use the I-129 change-of-status route as a first step and deal with the visa stamp separately.

The investment standards are the same for Taiwanese applicants as for any other E-2 nationality. There is no fixed minimum dollar amount in the regulations, but 9 FAM 402.9-7(B) requires that the investment be substantial relative to the total cost of the enterprise. For capital-intensive businesses like manufacturing or commercial real estate services, substantial may mean several hundred thousand dollars. For lower-cost service businesses, a smaller investment can still qualify if it represents a high proportion of total capitalization and the business is genuinely operational.

The investment must be irrevocably committed and at risk of partial or total loss. Funds that remain in a personal bank account or are only loosely earmarked for the business do not satisfy this standard. Wire transfers, signed leases, equipment purchase agreements, and invoices for pre-opening costs are the types of evidence that demonstrate irrevocable commitment. Taiwanese applicants often have business and real estate assets in Taiwan that they are liquidating or borrowing against to fund the U.S. investment, and AIT officers will review the full source-of-funds trail for those assets.

• Investment must be irrevocably committed and at risk of partial or total loss
• Substantiality is measured as a proportion of total enterprise cost, not a fixed minimum
• Source of funds documentation must trace the full path from origin to U.S. deployment
• Personal assets liquidated in Taiwan require valuation and sale documentation
• Loans secured against Taiwan assets require the loan agreement and collateral appraisal

AIT applies the same adjudicative standard as a U.S. embassy. The business plan must demonstrate a non-marginal enterprise, a real and active business rather than a passive investment vehicle, and the investor's active role in directing operations. For Taiwanese applicants, this often means showing a plan in English with supporting exhibits that may include translated documents from Taiwan, such as prior business registration records, audited financial statements, or source-of-funds documentation.

The plan should address the five standard E-2 showings in sequence: the nature of the enterprise, the investment amount and use of funds, the substantiality and irrevocability of the investment, the non-marginality of the business, and the investor's develop-and-direct role. AIT officers follow 9 FAM 402.9 guidance, so a plan structured around those headings maps directly to what the reviewing officer is checking against.

Many Taiwanese applicants come with prior business experience in Taiwan, and that experience is worth including in the management section. Evidence of running a successful business in Taiwan, in the same or adjacent industry, supports the credibility of the U.S. business plan and the investor's capacity to develop and direct the new enterprise. It is not a requirement, but it provides useful context that a bare-bones plan may lack.

A marginal enterprise is one that will generate no more than a minimal living for the investor and family. Under 9 FAM 402.9-7(C), an enterprise does not need to be profitable from day one, but the five-year financial projections must show realistic capacity to grow beyond subsistence-level returns. The business plan carries most of the weight for this showing, particularly the revenue model, staffing plan, and job-creation projections.

Taiwanese entrepreneurs frequently apply for E-2 visas to open businesses in industries like retail, food service, professional services, or manufacturing-adjacent distribution. For each of these business types, the non-marginality case is built differently. A retail business demonstrates non-marginality through market size, customer volume, and a hiring plan that grows headcount as revenue scales. A professional services firm may argue non-marginality through high-value contracts, billable-rate analysis, and projected revenue per client. The business plan should make the specific argument for the specific industry, not rely on generic language.

The develop-and-direct requirement means the investor must be an active executive or manager of the enterprise, not a passive investor who funds someone else's operation. For a Taiwanese national who has run businesses before, documenting this role is usually straightforward: the plan describes the investor's ownership stake, the specific management title, the operational decisions they make, and how their day-to-day presence keeps the business running.

AIT officers sometimes probe whether a Taiwanese investor intends to actually relocate and operate the business in the U.S., versus managing it remotely from Taiwan. The business plan should make the investor's U.S.-based role concrete. This means specifying where the business operates, where the investor will be based, what they will do each week, and who will handle any Taiwan-side responsibilities if they have existing business interests there.

E-2 visas issued to Taiwanese nationals by AIT are currently issued for five years with multiple-entry privileges, consistent with the standard reciprocity for Taiwan. E-2 status itself is granted in two-year increments when entering the U.S., and can be extended in two-year increments at the port of entry or through an I-129 filed with USCIS, as long as the business remains operational and the investor continues to develop and direct it.

E-2 status does not lead directly to a green card. Taiwan nationals who want permanent residence while on E-2 must pursue a separate immigrant visa pathway, such as EB-2 or EB-1C, or through the EB-5 investor program. Some Taiwanese E-2 investors structure their business operations to eventually support an L-1A petition for an intracompany transferee manager, which can provide a more direct bridge to an EB-1C green card. An immigration attorney familiar with both E-2 and employment-based immigrant tracks can help map out a long-term strategy from the outset.