Vietnam has no row in the State Department’s E-2 treaty table

The State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual lists the countries whose nationals may receive E treaty classification in a table, marked as revised on 17 February 2026, and the table has no Vietnam row. An E-2 investor visa depends on holding the nationality of a listed state. For a nationality acquired “through a financial investment”, the statute adds a three-year domicile condition and defines neither “financial investment” nor “domiciled”.

What E-2 is and what the Manual’s table shows

E-2 is the investor branch of the E classification in paragraph (a)(15)(E) of 8 U.S.C. 1101. It covers an alien entitled to enter under a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and “the foreign state of which the alien is a national”.

The investor comes “solely to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise” in which the alien has invested, or is actively in the process of investing, “a substantial amount of capital”.

The Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual says that the countries whose nationals may be accorded E classification, under a qualifying treaty or under legislation extending the same privilege, are listed in a table at 9 FAM 402.9-10. The table is headed “Treaties and Laws Containing Trader and Investor Provisions in Effect between the United States and Other Countries”.

Read on 26 October 2026, in the revision marked 17 February 2026, the table has no row for Vietnam. Its rows run alphabetically, so a Vietnam row would fall between the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia, and none is there. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) refers readers to the Department’s Treaty Countries page for a current list.

The table changes by statute and by treaty. Portugal is listed under Public Law 117-263, with E visas from 15 March 2024, once the Department confirmed that Portugal offers similar status to US nationals. For Ecuador, a note keeps E-2 classification until 18 May 2028 for nationals whose qualifying investments were in place in the United States by 18 May 2018.

Nationality decides who qualifies

The regulations, read as they stood on 22 October 2026, leave nationality to the state concerned. For an investor, nationality “is determined by the authorities of the foreign state of which the alien is a national” under the Department of Homeland Security’s rule. The State Department’s rule gives the task to “the authorities of the foreign state of which the alien claims nationality”.

The Manual states that an investor “must, whether an individual or business, possess the nationality of the treaty country”. A business takes the nationality of its individual owners, and the country of incorporation “is irrelevant”. Where an owner holds two E-qualifying nationalities, the Manual requires a choice of one for all E purposes involving the company.

Under the Homeland Security rule, an employee in E-2 status “must have the same nationality as the principal alien employer”.

This means a Vietnamese national does not qualify on Vietnamese nationality: the table read has no Vietnam row, and qualification follows the nationality of a listed state.

Vietnamese nationality law has its own rule on multiple nationality. In the consolidated text, 53/VBHN-VPQH, Article 4 recognises one nationality for a Vietnamese citizen unless the law provides otherwise. Article 27(1) provides that a citizen who applies to be released from Vietnamese nationality in order to acquire a foreign one may be released.

Article 5(4) says that, on Vietnamese territory, the State recognises only Vietnamese nationality for a citizen who also holds a foreign nationality, in dealings with Vietnamese authorities, unless a treaty to which Vietnam is a party says otherwise.

The three-year condition for nationality acquired by financial investment

The opening words of paragraph (E) in the statute contain a second test, in a parenthesis:

(or, in the case of an alien who acquired the relevant nationality through a financial investment and who has not previously been granted status under this subparagraph, the foreign state of which the alien is a national and in which the alien has been domiciled for a continuous period of not less than 3 years at any point before applying for a nonimmigrant visa under this subparagraph)

Section 5902(b) of Public Law 117-263, approved on 23 December 2022, inserted these words. Subsection (a) of the same section extended E-1 and E-2 eligibility to Portuguese nationals if Portugal gives similar status to US nationals.

As read, the Manual chapter, 8 CFR 214.2(e), 22 CFR 41.51 and the USCIS E-2 page do not use the phrase “financial investment”. The statute defines neither that phrase nor “domiciled”. Grenada’s citizenship and the E-2 treaty are covered in an earlier article.

Capital: no fixed figure

The Manual says that “No set dollar figure constitutes a minimum amount of investment to be considered ‘substantial’ for E-2 visa purposes”. The test is proportionality: “The lower the cost of the business the higher a percentage of investment is required”. The regulation uses the same sliding scale and gives no number; the only dollar figures in 8 CFR 214.2(e) belong to a Northern Mariana Islands category.

Under 8 CFR 214.2(e), investment is capital placed “at risk in the commercial sense with the objective of generating a profit”, possessed and controlled by the investor and “irrevocably committed” to the enterprise.

The enterprise must be “a real, active, and operating commercial or entrepreneurial undertaking” and not marginal: it needs the capacity, now or in future, to generate more than a minimal living for the investor and family, or a significant economic contribution.

Under the same rule, that capacity “should generally be realizable within 5 years from the date the alien commences the normal business activity of the enterprise”. The investor must be seeking entry “solely to develop and direct the enterprise” and must show control, through at least 50 percent ownership, operational control or other means.

The Manual tells officers that many E standards “are subject to the exercise of a great amount of judgment and discretion”, and that the burden of proof rests with the applicant.

How long the visa and the stay last

Visa validity and period of stay are separate. Under 22 CFR 41.112, validity “has no relation to” the stay that immigration authorities at a port of entry may authorise. It follows schedules the State Department gives consular officers, and no US nonimmigrant visa may be valid for more than 10 years.

A treaty investor may be admitted for an initial period of not more than 2 years, with extensions “in increments of not more than 2 years”. The regulation sets no number of extensions, and USCIS says there is no limit to the number an E-2 nonimmigrant may be granted. The consular fee schedule lists a processing fee of USD 315 per person for an E category nonimmigrant visa.

Two Department of Homeland Security proposals, neither final, reach E-2 stays. A proposal of 11 September 2026 would delete the 60-day grace period, covered in an earlier article; comments close on 10 November 2026.

A second proposal, of 14 October 2026, would remove the deference USCIS gives to a prior approval of the same facts when it decides an extension request. It names E-2 among many classifications, and comments close on 13 November 2026.

Family, intention to depart and the green card

A spouse and unmarried children under 21 may accompany or follow an E-2 investor, whatever their nationalities. USCIS treats spouses in valid E-2 or E-2S status as “employment authorized incident to status”. The Manual describes the children’s admission code as one for dependent children “not authorized to be employed”.

E-2 is a nonimmigrant classification. An E alien “shall maintain an intention to depart the United States upon the expiration or termination of E-1 or E-2 status”, the Homeland Security rule says.

The same rule adds that an application for initial admission, change of status or extension of stay in E classification “may not be denied solely on the basis of” an approved request for permanent labour certification or a filed or approved immigrant visa preference petition.

The Manual adds that a beneficiary of an immigrant petition must satisfy the officer of an intent to depart at the end of the authorised stay, “and not stay in the United States to adjust status or otherwise remain in the United States”.

USCIS’s list of green card categories includes an “Immigrant investor” category, covered separately on the EB-5 programme page, and has no entry for E-2.

What this article has not established

The Department’s Treaty Countries page, which USCIS names for a current list, was not opened; the table in the Manual is what was read. The visa reciprocity tables were not opened either, so no country’s visa validity, entries or reciprocity fee is stated.

What “financial investment” means in the three-year condition, whether any particular acquisition of a nationality is one, what “domiciled” requires, and how a consular officer applies the condition were not established; no text read defines or applies them.

Whether the condition reaches a nationality acquired before 23 December 2022 was not established. Section 5902 as read contains no transition provision, and no text read addresses the point.

How the United States treats a person who holds Vietnamese nationality together with a treaty-country nationality was not established. The Manual’s rule on dual nationals concerns owners with two qualifying nationalities, and no text read connects it to Article 5(4).

The statute was read in the 2024 edition of the United States Code. No later edition was available on the govinfo website on 26 October 2026, and no amendment to paragraph (E) after Public Law 117-263 was found.

Whether any charge beyond the schedule’s USD 315 applies to an E visa was not established. Processing times, appointment waits and approval rates for E-2 applicants were not established either.