A payment does not authorize US work. Review the spouse’s actual status and intended activity.
Separate commitment from permission
Qualifying E spouse status can carry employment authorization with required evidence. Pending preparation or unpaid work is not automatically permitted.
The dependent's ability to work lasts only while the principal holds valid status, so a job offer for the spouse is tied to the enterprise continuing to operate and to the investor maintaining the classification. Each individual investor's own eligibility, including nationality and actual role in developing and directing the enterprise, needs to be assessed separately, even within a family-owned business. A spouse’s proposed job should be assessed in light of valid work-authorizing status and practical job availability, not assumed solely because the principal applied for E-2. List nationality, percentage, voting power, and management rights for each owner; separately record every relative’s relationship, citizenship, age, and intended activity. For E-2, the investor needs treaty nationality and must show a real enterprise, qualifying treaty ownership, a substantial commitment of capital exposed to commercial loss, active direction, and an enterprise that is not marginal. Dependent children may attend school, but child status carries no work authorisation and it ends at twenty-one, which is worth marking in the plan when a business is expected to be held for several years.