The spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one may accompany the investor. The spouse is employment-authorized incident to status; children may study but may not work, and derivative status ends at twenty-one.
Two permissions and one cut-off
Hypothetical example: the couple's daughter is twenty-two and has worked in the family business at home for three years. She cannot come as a derivative, because the category covers unmarried children under twenty-one, and helping in her parents' new business would not change that. Her route, if there is one, is her own: a student status, a professional position she qualifies for, or an employment petition assessed on her own facts. Their seventeen-year-old son may accompany them and attend school. The spouse who is not the principal investor is employment-authorized incident to status and may take a job outside the business, which is often how a family manages cash flow in a first year. Note that treaty investor status does not itself lead to permanent residence, so a household expecting to stay indefinitely should plan that route separately.
Hypothetical example: a mobile-crane inspection company owner plans to relocate with a spouse who wants outside employment and a nineteen-year-old who plans college. The first review should list passports, relationships, intended work or study, and any professional licensing issue for each person. Civil certificates settle dependency; status documentation supports the spouse's work authorization. Decide each person's plan before accepting a job or tuition obligation. A common error is assuming the investor's business can simply employ every family member without considering age limits, work authorization, or whether the job is real.