Each joining spouse and unmarried child under 21 adds a nonrefundable US$15,000 fee and a further US$1 million gift, and each must be considered in the initial application. A spouse and two children therefore add three fees and three gifts on top of the principal's own amounts. Settle who is immigrating before modelling any sale of assets.
Decide the family list at the start, not later
Because joining family members must be considered in the initial application, a decision to include a child cannot be treated as a later top-up once the principal is through. Discuss with counsel how a child approaching 21, a stepchild, or a spouse who may stay behind for a school year should be handled before filing. The financial consequence of each choice is large enough that the household list belongs in the first planning conversation.
Work the figure out on paper before any conversation about which assets to sell. Multiply the per-person amounts by the actual number of intending immigrants, add the professional, medical and travel costs that sit outside the programme entirely, and only then ask what the balance sheet can release and by when. Because none of the payments is refundable and none is an investment returning capital, the total is money the household will not see again, and the plan should be tested against life after it rather than against the moment of payment.
Where a family member's inclusion is genuinely uncertain, ask counsel what the consequences of each choice are before modelling either.