Use the terms and instructions for the actual proposed application, with separate assessment where another route is considered.
Avoid mixing household commitments between categories
The Gold Card FAQ recommends initial inclusion of the intended eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21, each with US$15,000 and a US$1 million gift. Do not treat a different checklist as permission to omit the actual Gold Card requirements. Every immigrant classification defines who counts as an eligible family member on its own terms, and those definitions are not interchangeable between programs even when the general idea of spouse and children sounds similar.
A checklist written for a different investor or employment route may use its own age cutoffs, marital-status rules, or derivative-eligibility conditions that do not match what applies to the actual application being filed. Treating one program's family list as a shortcut for another risks omitting someone who does qualify here, or assuming inclusion for someone who does not, simply because an unrelated checklist said so. Before relying on any outside checklist, confirm each family member's status against the specific published terms for the classification actually being pursued, not a general summary written for a different purpose.
Where citizenship, permanent residence, or dependent age is central to eligibility under one route, verify separately whether the same fact matters, and in the same way, under the route actually being used.