A spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, as derivative applicants. Age is assessed under the rules applying to the petition, so a child close to twenty-one is a scheduling fact that should shape when the case is filed rather than a detail to check later.
Count the children's ages against the filing calendar
Hypothetical example: the Vaillancourt household leaves East Ferris on an EB-5 petition with children aged twelve, seventeen and twenty. The twelve-year-old is straightforward. The twenty-year-old is the reason this family should be discussing sequencing with counsel before anything is filed, because derivative eligibility depends on being unmarried and under twenty-one, and the interaction between a child's age, the petition's pendency and visa availability is technical enough that guessing is dangerous.
Two practical consequences follow. An application that could be filed in March should not drift to September on the assumption that a few months are harmless. And the household should have an independent plan for an older child — a student route, or their own qualification — rather than discovering at the interview that one member has no status.
Derivatives receive conditional residence at the same time as the investor and are included in the later petition to remove conditions.