Read the general life across the border overview
Hypothetical example: a Hanwell couple buying a U.S. business have three children: a daughter of twenty-two who works in the family firm, a son of seventeen, and a daughter of eleven. Two of the three can accompany them as dependants and the third cannot, and the difference has nothing whatever to do with how involved she is in the business. Sort the family by age and by intended activity before the transaction is structured. Hypothetical example: a map-restoration conservator has an L-1 possibility through an employer while the spouse may invest independently, and their child will turn twenty-one next year. The family must choose which adult's route best protects the practical plan for work, school, and timing. Passports, relationship records, intended activities, and the coming age deadline make that comparison concrete; a principal applicant's salary alone does not.
Derivative status ends at twenty-one, and marriage ends it sooner
Dependants in the treaty investor category are the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one. A child who has passed that birthday sits outside the category regardless of financial dependence, employment in the family business, or the strength of the parents' case. The adult daughter's route, if she has one, is her own: a student status, a professional position she qualifies for in her own right, or an employment petition filed by an employer. Working in her parents' U.S. business without a status of her own is not an option, and it is worth stating plainly, because families regularly plan on precisely the opposite assumption and discover the problem only after the move. Make one sheet per person, not one sheet per household. Record citizenship, passport expiry, relationship evidence, age, work plan, school plan, and any past U.S. immigration history. The principal's classification is only the beginning of the analysis.
The spouse may work; the children may not
A treaty investor's spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and may take employment with any employer, which often matters more to a family's first year than the new business's own cash flow does. Children admitted as dependants may attend school at every level but may not accept employment, including part-time or seasonal work inside the family business. Where a teenager expects to work, raise it early and check the position rather than discovering it after arrival. Occupational licensing for the spouse, where the work is regulated, is a separate state process with its own timeline, and it should be started well before the move rather than after it. Compare the consequences of making each adult the principal. Work authorization, professional licensing, study options, and the older child's deadline may change the practical answer even where two adults could independently qualify for different routes.
Write down each birthday and each person's own plan
Build a one-page record: full name, date of birth, citizenship, current status, and what that person intends to do — work, study, or neither. Then mark the dates that change the answer: each child's twenty-first birthday, the expiry of any status, and the point at which a course of study begins. Because treaty investor status does not itself lead to permanent residence, a household expecting to remain indefinitely should identify a separate route early, while the youngest child's clock still leaves room to use it. Reviewing that single page once a year catches most of what otherwise arrives as an unpleasant surprise during an extension. Do the date work early. A university term, a job offer, a licence application, and a twenty-first birthday may each impose a separate deadline. The sensible route is the one whose evidence and permissions align with those deadlines, not merely the first application that appears available.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.