The spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one may be included as derivatives and receive conditional permanent residence alongside the investor.
Age and marital status are measured on specific dates
Derivative status covers a legally married spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one. Because the process runs for years, a child's age is a live risk rather than a static fact, and the Child Status Protection Act permits certain periods to be deducted from a child's age depending on processing times and visa availability. That calculation should be performed on the family's real dates rather than assumed to work out.
Adult children and the investor's parents are not derivatives and would need independent routes. Two further points matter where a family business is involved. Jobs filled by the investor's immediate family do not count toward the ten-job requirement.
And an unmarried partner is not a spouse for these purposes, so a couple who are not legally married should take advice on that before filing rather than afterwards.