Not automatically. Identify actual commitment, risk and the applicable treatment of the funds.
Distinguish intention from obligation
A budget entry alone does not show that the money has been invested.
Direction is not defeated merely because an agreement contains ordinary brand standards, a reservation system or a fleet program; the question is whether the actual agreement leaves the investor with operational control. Identify the business being purchased or built and exactly what the proposed spending covers, flagging costs that sit outside a headline purchase price and distinguishing firm estimates from money already paid. Borrowed money is not excluded from E-2 investment analysis, so card-funded expenses may count when the investor is personally liable and the borrowing is not secured by the assets of the United States enterprise. Reduced demand does not automatically end E-2 eligibility, but the investor must continue to show treaty nationality, qualifying enterprise ownership, substantial funds irrevocably committed and at risk, operational control or at least fifty percent ownership, and a real nonmarginal business. Irrevocable commitment and exposure to loss are settled by how the purchase money actually moves, and substantiality by whether the committed sum is large in proportion to what this enterprise costs to buy or establish — there is no fixed figure.