Decide whether dependants apply at the same time or later, and what each choice costs in documents and travel. Eligible spouses and unmarried children under 21 may seek E dependent classification subject to their eligibility when they apply. Also decide who remains responsible for the household abroad while the investor is establishing the U.S. operation.
Do not attach a spouse's career to the foreign company
A spouse who currently works for the family business abroad cannot assume that role transfers. A qualifying E spouse is generally employment-authorized incident to valid status once here, and evidence such as the E-2S notation or I-94 record supports it with employers; children get no work authorization from dependent status. Whether the spouse continues foreign employment remotely raises separate questions about foreign obligations and should be examined before either arrangement is treated as settled.
Add one further point where a split household is planned around a business abroad: decide what happens to the foreign role if the U.S. business needs more of the investor than expected. New enterprises consume attention unpredictably, and an arrangement premised on the investor dividing their time evenly is the arrangement most likely to be tested in the first year.
Agree in advance who covers the foreign company, on what authority, and at what point that becomes a permanent change rather than a temporary one. Hypothetical example: an investor intends to spend alternate months in each country, and by month four the U.S. operation requires continuous presence, so the question of who runs the company abroad — and whether that person has the authority to do so — becomes urgent long before anyone had scheduled a review of the arrangement.