The investor's spouse and unmarried children under 21 are derivatives and receive conditional permanent residence with the investor. The Child Status Protection Act can freeze a child's age for the period the petition is pending, so filing date matters for a child in their late teens or early twenties.
Derivatives are defined by marriage and age at the relevant dates
Mrs. Okonjo, as spouse, is included as a derivative of Mr. Okonjo's petition or vice versa; only one of them needs to be the investor. Each unmarried child under 21 is included, and unlike TD or L-2 dependants, they become conditional permanent residents in their own right, able to work and study without restriction. The age rule is where planning matters: a child's age for EB-5 purposes is calculated under the Child Status Protection Act, which subtracts the time the immigrant petition was pending, provided the child seeks to acquire residence within the required period after a visa becomes available. A child at nineteen or twenty should prompt an early filing and a conversation with counsel about the calculation. A married child, whatever their age, is not a derivative. At the two-year mark the family files together, or separately where circumstances require, to remove conditions.
Hypothetical example: An indoor climbing-gym operator has a spouse and a child nearing twenty-one. The review should obtain civil records early and map each derivative’s eligibility at the relevant stages, including any immigration timing that affects the child. The conditional-residence structure does not remove the age and marital-status rules for children. The family must decide whether to proceed now, pursue an independent option for the older child, or obtain specialized advice on age-protection rules. A late birth certificate correction or a missing marriage record can delay visa processing even when the investment petition is strong.