You may be right. Anything like this that deals with government is probably never a simple process. The site I linked is where I read about this strategy. A little more searching shows $100,000 may not be enough of an investment. solutionsinlaw.com says “An investment of at least $1,000,000 automatically qualifies” and “The estimated income generated by the business must be sufficient to support the E-2 visa beneficiary and his/her family”. This would not be a passive investment. I would think buying and managing a rental property would satisfy this criteria.

Next you will have to make time to start your foreign business. Maybe buying a business already running is the time efficient way of doing this. If the business already has US customers, then managing from the US may be workable.

Nothing is easy. What I suggest will take a substantial amount of money. Ask the experts for advice before attempting anything like this. I thought my readers would find this possibility interesting. And I tend not to take your first “no it can’t be done” as final. But even if you are stubborn, “no” may be the correct answer.

Thank you for your comment.