They receive E-2 dependant status for the same period; the spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and may work anywhere, while children may study and lose dependant status at 21.
E-2 spouses may work; children may not
The spouse and unmarried children under 21 of a treaty investor are classified as E-2 dependants with the same period of stay as the principal. A spouse in E-2 status is considered employment-authorized incident to status, so she may take employment with any U.S. employer or work in the family enterprise without separate authorization, and her admission record annotated as an E-2 spouse evidences that permission. In the hypothetical, the contractor’s wife is a bookkeeper who has handled the Quebec company’s accounts; she could do the same for the U.S. company or take an outside position. Children may attend school but have no work authorization. Their status ends on their twenty-first birthday, so a child now 18 has three years before needing a student or other status of his own. A spouse of another citizenship does not affect the enterprise’s treaty nationality but must obtain her E-2 dependant visa at a consulate.
The family review should follow the principal case, because dependant status cannot cure a weak enterprise. The business file must show that the investor’s funds are irrevocably committed, at risk and directed to an enterprise that is not marginal. Hypothetical example: an independent dog-training school owner invests in a U.S. training centre while her partner plans to take outside work. First document the lease, equipment payments and realistic operating plan; then prepare the marriage and birth records. Paying a refundable deposit alone leaves too little capital exposed to support the E-2 case.