Derivative inclusion does not replace the principal’s qualifying investment.
Separate family eligibility from funding
Review the actual spouse or child relationship and case-specific age and CSPA issues. A household plan should not use family inclusion as a credit against capital still required in the principal’s case.
Eligible spouses and unmarried children under 21 may have derivative cases, with applicable CSPA assessment; joint asset ownership does not itself establish immigration eligibility or work permission. Derivative status covers the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, and statutory age protections exist whose operation depends on filing dates and on visa availability rather than on a birthday alone. Spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one are derivatives and obtain conditional residence at the same time, which is the main practical difference from every nonimmigrant route on this site: the family receives permanent residence rather than dependant status tied to someone else's job. Admission brings two years of conditional residence for the investor, the spouse and unmarried children under 21, after which Form I-829 is filed in the ninety days before the second anniversary with evidence that the jobs were created and the capital sustained. EB-5 permits a spouse and unmarried children under 21 to derive; the Child Status Protection Act can protect some children, but it requires individualized calculation rather than an assumption that payment freezes age.