Unpaid work is not automatically authorized and does not become capital merely because it helps the business.
Review the two issues separately
Qualifying E spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence. The investor must still establish the qualifying investment and enterprise conditions from the actual arrangement.
The spouse's authorization to work arises from the status itself rather than from a separate grant, so employment with an unrelated employer is available, subject to satisfying an employer's ordinary verification requirements. Create one chart identifying each principal investor, spouse, and unmarried child under 21, then attach citizenship, relationship, and intended-activity records to the correct person. The principal investor must independently show treaty nationality, substantial funds irrevocably committed and at risk, a real nonmarginal business, and development and direction through at least half ownership or operational control. If the enterprise's treaty ownership changes or the employment ends, the consequences reach the spouse's job and the children's schooling at the same time, which is worth understanding before a second household income is assumed. Keep the spouse's position separate from the child's too: authorization to work attaches to the spouse's own valid status and documentation, not to the household, and an employer will ask to see the record establishing it before adding anyone to a payroll.