There is no fixed dollar minimum; substantiality is measured against the total cost of buying or establishing that particular business. Paying most of the price of a modest equipment-based business, with the balance financed on the investors’ personal credit, usually satisfies the test.
Substantial means proportionate to this business, not to a national figure
The test compares the amount actually invested with the cost of purchasing the enterprise as a going concern, and it is applied on a sliding scale: the lower the total cost, the higher the proportion the investors should fund from their own capital. For a business whose price is largely equipment, the purchase price plus working capital is the denominator. Personal loans secured on the couple’s Canadian home count as their investment because they, not the business, bear the risk; a loan secured on the excavators themselves does not, because the enterprise carries it.
Ask the accountant to prepare a one-page statement showing total acquisition cost, the amount funded from personal capital, the amount of enterprise-secured debt and the resulting percentage. Government charges are modest by comparison: the visa application fee is on the State Department schedule, and any change-of-status filing inside the United States uses the USCIS fee on Form G-1055. Legal, escrow and business-plan costs are separate and vary.