Assess the spouse’s own status and intended work. A qualifying E spouse may work incident to valid status with appropriate evidence; the principal’s investment alone does not establish that permission.
Identify the person performing each activity
Eligible dependents include a qualifying spouse and unmarried children under 21. Children do not receive the spousal work benefit. Keep proposed family roles separate from actual employees and from the principal’s directing responsibilities.
Beyond the business file, keep the marriage certificate, the spouse's Canadian employment contract or resignation notice showing the expected end date, housing arrangements on both sides, and a travel record for the household. Derivative status depends on being unmarried and under twenty-one, and there is no conditional residence or immigrant petition running in the background to convert into something durable, because this category leads nowhere permanent on its own. If the spouse wants a principal E-2 claim, independently test treaty nationality, ownership of 50 percent or more, or genuine operational control, and responsibility to develop and direct the enterprise. The principal’s case separately requires treaty nationality for the investor and enterprise—Canadian citizenship, not permanent residence, where Canada supplies the nationality—at least 50% treaty-national ownership, and development and direction.