A spouse and unmarried children under 21 may be included as derivatives and receive the same two-year conditional permanent residence as the investor. Children are assessed for age eligibility under the applicable statutory provisions, and the conditions on the whole family are removed together when Form I-829 is approved.
One petition, several people, one deadline that moves fastest for the youngest
The attraction of this route for a family is that it produces permanent residence rather than a status tied to a job or a business, and it carries the household along with the principal. The age question is the one that requires attention rather than assumption. Eligibility as a child depends on being unmarried and under 21, and statutory provisions govern how age is calculated in the context of processing times, so a family with a seventeen or eighteen-year-old should get specific advice about how those provisions apply to their case rather than counting birthdays informally.
Two other points matter in practice. Conditional residents must not spend long periods outside the United States if they intend to keep the status. And when the conditions are removed on the investor's petition, the derivative family members' conditions are removed with it, so the family's timetable is the investor's timetable.
- USCIS: EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
- 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5), employment creation immigrants and capital adjustment provisions
- USCIS: Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status
- USCIS: Child Status Protection Act
- U.S. Department of State: Visa Bulletin
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule