Family terms are defined by the program's official documentation and must be read there. Do not assume they mirror the derivative rules of other categories: EB-5 includes a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one as derivatives, and the nonimmigrant categories each have their own dependant rules.
Do not import family rules from a category this is not
Every route on this site handles family differently, which is exactly why importing assumptions is dangerous. TD dependants of a TN holder may study but not work. L-2 and E-2 spouses are employment-authorized incident to status while their children may study but not work. EB-5 derivatives receive conditional permanent residence alongside the investor. Those differences are not stylistic; they determine whether a spouse can take a job and whether a nineteen-year-old has three years or none. The Gold Card program's family provisions are whatever its official documentation states, and the only safe course is to read that documentation and, where it is silent or unclear on a family's specific situation, to say so plainly rather than to reason by analogy from EB-5.
Hypothetical example: a beekeeping-equipment wholesaler plans for a working spouse and a nineteen-year-old child. The household must decide what official family terms say for each person’s activity and age, using current framework text, relationship records, passports, and individual plans. Record each person’s activity and deadline separately, then sequence admissions, employment, and school steps around those facts. The avoidable problem is that family inclusion language may not resolve employment or timing questions. Do not proceed until everyone has a plan matching their circumstances.