How can an E-3 visa holder eventually make an EB-5 investment?

As an E-3 employee you may save funds from your lawful employment for EB-5 purposes. However, you are not authorized to establish a business or work for anyone else other than your current E-2 employer. You may be eligible for EB-3 or EB-2 employment, or once you have the requisite funds and are able to demonstrate they are from a lawful source abroad or in the United States, you may file an I-526 petition and then adjust status to a conditional permanent resident in the United States (as long as you maintain an underlying lawful immigration status) or consular process for an immigrant visa abroad upon approval of the I-526 petition.

As an E-3 visa holder it is apparent that you are currently working for an employer. If you can generate enough income that is legal that allows you to meet the EB-5 investment requirement, you can certainly apply for EB-5.

An E-3 nonimmigrant visa status is an employment-based visa category, so you are authorized to work for your E-3 sponsor; you are not authorized to work for anyone else. You should be careful not to engage in unauthorized employment in the United States. Any such activity could affect your ability to prove that the funds you will invest in your EB-5 project were lawfully obtained by you. You should consult with an experienced immigration attorney before making any decisions.

The fact that you are on E-3 visa in the United States does not prevent you from subsequently qualifying for lawful permanent residency based upon an EB-5 investor petition on Form I-526. By the E-3 visa presumably you are referring to a work authorized visa that would allow you to work for a specific employer sponsoring you. If you build your business and you start to pool funds, again the test will be whether or not you can make the minimum investment of $500,000 if it is in a TEA or otherwise $1 million into a new business enterprise that employs 10 individuals and for which you can show the source of the $500,000 or $1 million and that it is lawful.

Any funds lawfully obtained may be used for EB-5 investment. As an E-3, you are engaged in a specialty occupation, but I see no prohibition for you to operate another business as long as you maintain your E-3 status. You should check with your employer and review any employment contract you have with them.

An E-3 is merely a work visa; however, if you can save sufficient resources, you can file for an EB-5. Since you are employed you might also be eligible for an EB-2 or EB-3 employment sponsorship.

As an E-3 visa status holder you can only work for the petitioning employer and no one else. Although USCIS will allow you to use the income generated by your own business while on E-3 because that will satisfy the source of funds requirement, you are likely to run into issues with unlawful employment. If USCIS sees that the source of your income come from another employer in the United States, it might find that you have unlawfully worked in violation of your E-3 status. This will necessitate a waiver for unlawful employment and if you do not have a qualifying relative for the waiver, it will be denied, which will lead to your green card being denied as well.

This should work, but as an E-3 you need to be an employee.

Your E-3 employment is limited to the petitioning company. For EB-5, personal funds may be used from various lawful sources, like income from your employment. Creating an approvable I-526 petition with properly authenticated source and transfer of funds information is best done under the representation of an immigration lawyer.