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LA PRAIRIE · EB-5 FIELD GUIDE

Does adding my spouse’s name to a project contact list give them EB-5 family status?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. An administrative contact entry is not a derivative immigration determination. A qualifying spouse and unmarried children under 21 need their own applicable processing and eligibility assessment.

Distinguish project communications from family applications

Record who may receive project notices separately from who seeks immigration benefits. Applicable age rules and individual admissibility still matter, and neither a signed investment contract nor the principal’s petition approval itself grants family residence. Keep one list of who receives project correspondence and a separate list of who is applying, then check that nobody has been moved from the first to the second by administrative convenience.

The lists serve different purposes and are maintained by different people. For each intended derivative, record the relationship, the date of birth, marital status and the documents that evidence the relationship, because those are what will be examined rather than a contact record. Hypothetical example: a combination-product dossier compilation firm lists an investor's spouse as an authorised signatory for project notices; that entry supports nothing about the spouse's own eligibility, which rests on the qualifying relationship and the applicable individual processing.

Ask counsel how the ages of unmarried children under 21 are treated at the relevant stage, since that answer often drives the sequencing of the whole family's plan. Ask who at the project updates the contact list and how, because a change made by an administrator should never be the first record of a family decision.