Update the operating and investment account to reflect what can actually proceed. A lease deadline does not establish readiness or compel an immigration decision.
Review changes before further commitments
Identify affected opening dates, spending and cancellation terms. Do not describe unfinished work as completed merely to preserve the original filing narrative.
Pause any spending that depends on an unapproved plan, then identify which commitments remain binding, refundable, or subject to a change order. Update the ledger, schedule, and business plan before submitting or supplementing evidence. E-2 permits an investor to be in the process of investing, but capital has to face risk and be committed irrevocably; unfinished work must not be called completed. Substantiality is evaluated proportionally, not through a fixed minimum. Investor and enterprise require treaty nationality: Canadian citizenship rather than permanent residence, and treaty-country nationals must own at least 50% of the enterprise. Development and direction are ordinarily established through at least 50% ownership, operational control, or other means. A new enterprise need not already operate, provided it will be real, active, and nonmarginal.
Hypothetical example: A Russell bicycle-repair entrepreneur awaits landlord consent for a revised ventilation layout in a proposed U.S. workshop. He should preserve the original submission, revisions, quote, and correspondence, and avoid representing the installation as finished. If he commits funds to unaffected tools, the ledger should distinguish those purchases from contingent construction. The opening forecast should address present or future capacity to provide more than a minimal living or make a significant economic contribution; projected future capacity should generally be realizable within five years after normal business activity begins. Because E-2 creates no direct permanent-residence path, delay should not be described as movement toward a green card.