Vancouver filing guide
Applying for an E-2 visa in Vancouver
The submission process, document format and interview steps for applications filed through the U.S. Consulate General Vancouver.
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Your Vancouver E-2 visa application at a glance
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Document format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- File limit
- 20 MB
- Page limit
- 50 pages
- TCN policy
- Regularly processes TCN cases
- Interview location
- U.S. Consulate General Vancouver
Open the official application portal(opens the official site in a new tab)
Requirements reviewed August 2026 · Sources: U.S. Consulate General Vancouver(opens the official site in a new tab) and U.S. Department of State(opens the official site in a new tab)
Process
How to apply for an E-2 visa in Vancouver
Read this as a sequence, not a menu. Each step depends on the one before it.
- 01
Complete the DS-160
Fill in the DS-160 nonimmigrant visa application online, upload your photo, and print the confirmation page with the barcode. Every applicant needs their own DS-160, including dependants.
Consular Electronic Application Center(opens the official site in a new tab)
- 02
Pay the MRV fee
Pay the machine-readable visa fee through the visa services portal for this post. You cannot book an interview until the payment clears.
- 03
Schedule the interview
Book your appointment at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver through the same portal. E-visa cases are often handled by a dedicated unit, so appointment availability differs from other visa categories.
- 04
Email the application package
Send the complete PDF package to EVisaCanada@state.gov ahead of your interview date, and keep the confirmation.
Submissions go to EVisaCanada@state.gov.
- 05
Attend the interview
Present your case at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver. Bring the originals behind your evidence and expect questions about the business, the money and how you will run it. Answers that contradict your file are what cause trouble.
Documents
E-2 visa document requirements in Vancouver
Submit your application package via email to the consulate.
File requirements
- Format
- Single PDF
- Page limit
- 50 pages
- File size
- 20 MB
Documents submitted separately
These sit outside the formatted package and do not count toward any limit.
- DS-160 confirmation page
- DS-156E
- G-28
- Appointment confirmation letter
- Civil documents, such as birth and marriage certificates
- Passport bio-page copy
Important Vancouver instructions
- Email the complete package as a single PDF attachment to EVisaCanada@state.gov — no ZIP files or shared folders.
- Also bring a printed copy of the entire package to the interview for the officer to review.
- Organise the package into tabbed sections with dividers, and subdivide a numbered section into lettered subsections where it holds more than two documents.
- Do not quote the FAM or CFR at length in the cover letter — state precisely how the enterprise and applicant qualify.
Format
The Canadian sectioned binder
U.S. Consulate General Vancouver expects the complete package as a single emailed PDF, organised into six numbered sections — and a printed copy of the same package brought to the interview.
The 6 sections
- INationality & Legal Status
- IIOwnership Documents
- IVE-2 Investment
- VE-2 Marginality & Economic Impact
- VIE-2 Real & Operating Commercial Enterprise
- VIIExecutive / Managerial / Supervisory / Essential Skills
What the format requires
- The 50-page limit applies to new cases and renewals alike.
- Forms and civil documents do not count toward the page limit.
- Email the package as one PDF attachment to EVisaCanada@state.gov — no ZIP files or shared folders — then bring a printed copy to the interview.
From Portunus
Turn your business case into a consular-ready plan
Assembling to U.S. Consulate General Vancouver's requirements is a formatting problem. Making the business case is the hard part — that is what we build.
- Business plan and five-year financials £99
- A FAM 402.9-aligned plan with projections, job-creation analysis and proportionality — the document the whole application rests on. Editable and regenerable as your plans change.
- Complete evidence-binder assembly £140
- Everything in the plan, plus your full binder assembled to the Canada Sectioned Format — ordered, page-numbered and ready to file.
One-time payment, no subscription. Portunus is document-preparation software, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.
Third-country nationals
Applying for an E-2 visa in Vancouver as a third-country national
Vancouver regularly processes E-2 applications from eligible third-country nationals, although acceptance and appointment availability can change.
A third-country national is someone who applies at a U.S. post outside their country of citizenship — for example, a treaty-country citizen who lives and works elsewhere. Consular practice now expects applicants to file where they hold citizenship or permanent residence, so filing elsewhere is the exception rather than the norm. Compare every post by how readily it takes outside applicants.
We rate this post 2 out of 3 for third-country processing, meaning it processes them as a matter of routine. That rating is our own reading of published guidance and applicant reports — it describes willingness to schedule an appointment, not your eligibility for approval, and it carries no official standing.
Policy at individual posts changes without much notice. Confirm the current position before you build a filing plan around it — U.S. Consulate General Vancouver(opens the official site in a new tab).
Vancouver is one of seven U.S. posts processing E-2 cases in Canada, the third-largest treaty market in the world at 6,747 visas in FY2024.
The rules here are the mission's, not the post's. Every Canadian post works from one published supporting-documentation index, so the 50-page limit, the six numbered sections and the email-then-paper routine are identical whether you file in Vancouver, Toronto or Halifax. What Vancouver decides is where you sit for the interview and when you can be seen.
What is the same everywhere in Canada
Assemble to the mission index and the package travels. The essentials:
- 50 pages and 20 MB, applying to new cases and renewals alike.
- One PDF emailed to the E-Visa unit before the interview — no ZIP archives, no shared folders.
- A printed copy of the same package brought to the interview for the officer.
- Six numbered sections following the mission index: I, II, IV, V, VI and VII.
- Forms, civil documents, the passport bio-page copy and the tabs themselves sit outside the page count.
Why the numbering skips III
Section III is the mission's E-1 treaty trader section. An E-2 applicant files nothing there and keeps the numbering as published, so the tabs still line up with the checklist the officer reads from. Closing the gap and numbering one through six is the most common binder error at Canadian posts.
Where a numbered section holds more than two documents, subdivide it into lettered subsections — IV-a, IV-b — rather than leaving a thick undifferentiated run of paper.
What is particular to Vancouver
Geography, mostly. Vancouver is the natural post for applicants in British Columbia and the western provinces, and it is the practical Canadian choice for anyone travelling from the Asia-Pacific — a materially shorter trip than Toronto for an applicant coming from Australia, Japan or Singapore.
Appointment availability differs sharply between Canadian posts and moves month to month, which is the one variable genuinely worth checking before you commit. Since the package is identical across the mission, choosing a post is a scheduling and travel decision rather than a strategic one.
What the page cap does to your business plan
The mission asks for the five-year financial projections and the staffing timeline as documents in their own right. A business plan that also carries them as appendices spends the 50-page budget twice on the same content, so build the plan without them and file them where the index puts them.
Compression is an editing problem rather than a licence to drop evidence. The substantive standard is 9 FAM 402.9, and a plan trimmed to fit still has to satisfy it on source of funds, irrevocable commitment and job creation.
The essentials, recapped
To file an E-2 visa application at the U.S. Consulate General Vancouver: build the mission's six-section package inside 50 pages and 20 MB, email it as one PDF to the E-Visa unit before your interview, and bring the same package on paper to the interview itself. Keep the numbering gap at III, and choose between Canadian posts on appointment availability rather than on rules, because the rules do not differ.
Primary sources
Sources
- Supporting Documentation for New Cases — E Visas — U.S. Mission to Canada
- 9 FAM 402.9 — Treaty Traders, Investors and Specialty Occupations — U.S. Department of State
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 2, Part L, Chapter 4 — Treaty Investors — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Treaty Countries — Nonimmigrant Visas for Treaty Traders and Treaty Investors — U.S. Department of State — Bureau of Consular Affairs
- E-2 Treaty Investors — Visa Information — U.S. Department of State — Bureau of Consular Affairs
Alternatives
Other E-2 visa posts in Canada
- Post
- U.S. Consulate General Toronto
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- TCN policy
- Actively welcomes
- Guide
- View Toronto guide
- Post
- U.S. Consulate General Montreal
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- TCN policy
- Regularly processes
- Guide
- View Montreal guide
- Post
- U.S. Embassy Ottawa
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- TCN policy
- Limited
- Guide
- View Ottawa guide
- Post
- U.S. Consulate Calgary
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- TCN policy
- Limited
- Guide
- View Calgary guide
- Post
- U.S. Consulate Quebec City
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- TCN policy
- Rarely accepts
- Post
- U.S. Consulate Halifax
- Submission
- Email Submission
- Format
- Canada Sectioned Format
- TCN policy
- Rarely accepts
- Guide
- View Halifax guide
Questions
E-2 visa in Vancouver: common questions
How do I submit my E-2 visa application to U.S. Consulate General Vancouver?
U.S. Consulate General Vancouver accepts the application package by email to EVisaCanada@state.gov. Send the complete PDF before your interview date, and keep the confirmation.
What document format does U.S. Consulate General Vancouver require for E-2 visa applications?
U.S. Consulate General Vancouver uses a defined structure rather than a free-form bundle: I (Nationality & Legal Status), II (Ownership Documents), IV (E-2 Investment), V (E-2 Marginality & Economic Impact), VI (E-2 Real & Operating Commercial Enterprise), VII (Executive / Managerial / Supervisory / Essential Skills). The 50-page limit applies to new cases and renewals alike.
What is the page limit for E-2 visa applications at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver?
The page limit is 50 pages. The submission is capped at 20 MB. Some documents are exempt from the count, including DS-160 confirmation page, DS-156E, G-28 (Notice of Entry of Appearance). Check the requirements section on this page for the full list before you assemble.
Can third-country nationals apply for an E-2 visa at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver?
Yes. U.S. Consulate General Vancouver regularly processes E-2 applications from eligible third-country nationals. Acceptance and appointment availability change, so confirm the current position with the post before you build a filing plan around it.
How long does an E-2 visa take at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver?
We do not publish an estimate for U.S. Consulate General Vancouver, because a number invented for a page like this would be worse than none. travel.state.gov publishes current visa appointment wait times by post, and that is the figure to check. Total time is appointment availability plus any administrative processing after the interview. Book flights and shipping only once the visa is in your passport.
What should I bring to my E-2 visa interview at U.S. Consulate General Vancouver?
Bring your passport, the DS-160 confirmation page, the MRV fee receipt, your appointment confirmation, and the originals behind your evidence — financial statements, business registration, lease and purchase agreements. Bring a printed copy of the package you uploaded, so you can refer to it during the interview. Expect questions about how you found the business, where the money came from, and how you will run it.
Ready to prepare your Vancouver E-2 application?
Portunus builds the FAM 402.9-aligned business plan and five-year financials your case rests on, and can assemble the complete evidence binder formatted to the Canada Sectioned Format — so what you submit matches what the post asks for.
Preparing an E-2 case for a client? See our tools for immigration attorneys. Portunus is document-preparation software, not a law firm, and provides no legal advice.