A co-borrower is not automatically an EB-5 derivative. Immigration eligibility rests on the principal investor and qualifying family relationships, while joint borrowing raises separate questions about ownership and financial responsibility.
Map responsibilities and applicants separately
Identify which spouse receives or controls the proceeds and who contributes them to the enterprise. Document the marriage and children’s eligibility independently from the loan package. Consider how repayments affect the family during visa waiting periods.
Filing an EB-5 petition does not authorize either spouse to start U.S. employment to service the debt; any interim work permission needs its own basis. Joint borrowing raises a question about whose capital is being invested, and that is separate from who may immigrate.
Where a spouse is a co-borrower or has provided security over jointly held property, establish and document how the funds are treated as between them and whose investment is being made. That analysis belongs with counsel and should be settled before the money moves rather than explained afterwards. Derivative eligibility flows from the relationship to the principal applicant and from that person's case, not from who signed the loan.
Watch children's ages across what may be a long process; a child approaching 21 should be raised with counsel early, since statutory provisions addressing age calculation exist in some circumstances and their application depends on the facts.