Do not assume all principal and derivative questions are identical. Review the spouse’s actual citizenship, relationship and intended status.
Separate eligibility and work permission
Qualifying E spouse status may carry employment authorization with required evidence. A passport alone or pending application does not establish that permission.
If more than one relative intends to invest or hold ownership, address each person's nationality and role individually rather than treating the family as a single undifferentiated investor. The principal investor and enterprise must possess treaty nationality, together with treaty-country nationals owning at least half of the enterprise; the principal must develop and direct through ownership or operational control. The first planning decision is whether the enterprise can be directed by the investor during the staggered family period without turning a school calendar into a reason to enter or work without the appropriate status. Children under twenty-one may live and study but never work, and because E-2 offers no direct path to permanent residence, a child who reaches twenty-one loses derivative status entirely. A spouse's ability to work is generally incident to valid status and is evidenced by that person's own record, so the household budget should not treat the income as available until the record itself is in hand. Shares issued to reflect a contribution of money have one effect on the nationality analysis; shares issued for estate planning or family fairness have the same effect, whatever the intention behind them.