Providing funds does not establish dependent eligibility. The applicable E dependent categories concern qualifying spouses and unmarried children under 21, subject to the relevant requirements. A parent, sibling or other donor does not become eligible merely because their contribution finances the business.
Separate the donor from the accompanying family
List who is supplying money and who is seeking status, even if the lists overlap. Review the intended activities of accompanying relatives and their actual work permission. Qualifying E spouses may be authorized incident to status with the required evidence; a donor relationship or pending case does not create that permission.
The principal investor should wait for valid E-2 status before performing productive work and must still show treaty nationality, a qualifying ownership structure, substantial capital irrevocably committed at risk, a non-marginal operating enterprise, and development and direction through 50% ownership or operational control. If the family intends to relocate while the investor continues to run a Canadian business, be explicit about that with counsel, because it changes both the practical arrangements and the description of who is directing the American enterprise day to day. Household arrival plans made before a business opens are made with the least information anyone involved will ever have, so agree a date some months out at which the plan is revisited against actual trading, and shape the intervening commitments accordingly.