How many E-2 visas does the U.S. issue each year?

54,364 in fiscal year 2024, according to U.S. Department of State issuance data — the highest total on record, continuing a steady climb from 26,759 in FY2020.

Which country gets the most E-2 visas?

Japan, by a wide margin. Japan alone accounted for roughly 26% of all E-2 visas issued in FY2024 (14,366 of 54,364), more than double the next-closest countries, Canada and South Korea.

What is the E-2 visa approval rate?

State Department data puts overall E-2 approval rates in the 90% to 92.5% range in recent years, though this varies by consulate and year, and the government does not publish a single official 'approval rate' statistic for the category.

How many countries have E-2 treaties with the United States?

Roughly 80 countries currently have a qualifying treaty of commerce and navigation with the U.S. that supports E-2 status, with Portugal being the most recent addition, effective March 2025. The exact, current list is maintained by the State Department and can change.

Visa Crafter The Visa Crafter Journal E-2 Visa

E-2 Visa Statistics by Treaty Country: Annual Data, Trends, and Sources

Author: Anthony Rosemond5 min readJuly 20, 2026

Quick answer

The U.S. issued 54,364 E-2 visas in FY2024, up from 52,308 in FY2023 and roughly double the FY2020 total of 26,759. Japan accounts for about a quarter of all E-2 issuances (14,366 in FY2024), followed by Canada and South Korea (roughly 6,800 each), then Germany, France, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. All figures come from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Table of contents

Real numbers, not estimates. Every figure on this page is sourced from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs — specifically the annual Report of the Visa Office, Table XVI (Nonimmigrant Visas Issued by Classification and Nationality) — the same dataset immigration attorneys and researchers use.

Total E-2 visas issued, 2020–2024

E-2 issuances have roughly doubled since FY2020, climbing every year since the pandemic-era low. FY2024's 54,364 is the highest total on record.

| Fiscal year | E-2 visas issued | Year-over-year change | |---|---|---| | 2020 | 26,759 | — | | 2021 | 33,129 | +23.8% | | 2022 | 45,878 | +38.5% | | 2023 | 52,308 | +14.0% | | 2024 | 54,364 | +3.9% |

Top 10 countries by E-2 issuances, FY2024

| Rank | Country | E-2 visas issued (FY2024) | Share of total | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | Japan | 14,366 | ~26% | | 2 | Canada | 6,803 | ~12.5% | | 3 | South Korea | 6,799 | ~12.5% | | 4 | Germany | 3,924 | ~7.2% | | 5 | France | 3,589 | ~6.6% | | 6 | Taiwan | 2,924 | ~5.4% | | 7 | United Kingdom | 2,723 | ~5% | | 8 | Italy | 1,541 | ~2.8% | | 9 | Mexico | 1,525 | ~2.8% | | 10 | Spain | 1,455 | ~2.7% |

Japan alone accounts for roughly a quarter of every E-2 visa issued worldwide — a reflection of the long-standing U.S.–Japan Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation and decades of Japanese small-business investment in the U.S.

Year-over-year movers (FY2023 to FY2024)

Not every country moved in the same direction. Some notable swings:

| Country | Change, FY2023 → FY2024 | |---|---| | Colombia | +73% | | France | +26% | | Japan | +11% | | Canada | +9% | | United Kingdom | -4% | | Mexico | -30% | | Chile | -45% |

Year-over-year swings at this scale are usually driven by consulate-level processing capacity and local demand shifts, not changes to E-2 eligibility rules — the underlying legal requirements were the same across both years.

Approval rates and refusals

The State Department doesn't publish a single official "E-2 approval rate," but issuance-vs-refusal data puts the overall rate in the 90% to 92.5% range in recent years:

| Fiscal year | Refusals | |---|---| | 2022 | 4,823 | | 2023 | 5,615 |

How many countries qualify

As of this writing, roughly 80 countries have a qualifying treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States that supports E-2 status. The list changes occasionally — Portugal was the most recent addition, with its treaty becoming effective in March 2025. Notably absent from the list: several of the world's largest economies, including India, China, Brazil, and Russia, none of which currently have a qualifying treaty. The authoritative, always-current list is maintained by the State Department — see the source link below before relying on any third-party list, including this one.

A note on data accuracy

These figures are compiled from the U.S. Department of State's published nonimmigrant visa issuance statistics (Report of the Visa Office, Table XVI) and cross-checked against multiple independent compilations of the same underlying government data. Visa statistics are revised and republished periodically — always check the primary source below for the most current figures before making a decision based on them.

Sources

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