Yes. The spouse of an E-2 principal is employment-authorized incident to status and may work for any employer. Unmarried children under twenty-one may accompany the family and study, but they have no work authorization and lose dependant eligibility at twenty-one.
Work authorization for the spouse, and a hard deadline for older children
The spouse's ability to work is a genuine advantage of the E-2 route for a family that needs a second income, and it does not depend on a separate application being granted first. What deserves more thought is the position of children, for two reasons. The first is the age limit, which is absolute and arrives on a birthday. The second is that E-2 offers no direct path to permanent residence, so a child who grows up in the United States as an E-2 dependant reaches twenty-one with no accrued immigration benefit from the years spent there. Families intending a permanent move should understand that distinction at the start, because it is one of the main reasons an investor eventually looks at an immigrant category instead.
Hypothetical example: a mushroom-substrate producer moves with a working spouse and a child approaching twenty-one. The household must decide whether temporary E-2 family status fits every individual plan, using passports, intended activity list, admission evidence, and age timeline. Record each person’s activity and deadline separately, then sequence admissions, employment, and school steps around those facts. The avoidable problem is that a business plan cannot solve a dependent child’s later status issue. Do not proceed until everyone has a plan matching their circumstances.