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DORVAL · EB-5 FIELD GUIDE

Can my spouse work in the business, and does that work count?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

Two separate questions. Whether your spouse may work in the U.S. company depends on holding a status that actually permits it; a filed or approved petition is not work or travel authorization by itself. Whether that work counts toward your ten jobs is settled already: it does not.

Family roles, eligibility and the moment either can begin

An eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21 may derive residence, subject to individual admissibility and any applicable age-protection analysis. Conditional permanent residence generally permits employment. Before that stage, a family member may have another valid work authorization, which must be checked on its own terms.

Neither a pending EB-5 case nor ownership replaces that permission. Whatever the work authorization, the investor’s spouse and children remain excluded from this investor’s qualifying job count. Separate what a family member derives from what a family member must obtain.

Residence can be derived by an eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21, subject to individual admissibility; permission to work in the meantime is not derived from the investor's petition and has to rest on that person's own status. Compare the two timelines before anyone resigns a Canadian position. Where a child approaches the age limit, raise it early, since any applicable age-protection analysis depends on facts and dates far easier to assemble before a deadline than after one.

Ownership of the company alters none of this.