You’re not under investigation you are under consideration during that time the immigration officers will probably come and visit your house. They may talk to your neighbors. They may take photos of you and your wife at your house. It happens every year on your Ext if you are married to s Thai
don’t mean to be the correction Police, my friend, but there is no such thing as a 12 month retirement visa. The program that you are starting will be get a non-immigrant O visa for 60 days then prior to that expiring you will file for a one year extension you are always on the same non-O Visa you simply extend it for 12 months once a year, hope that clears it up a little bit for you 
actually Stu my wife comes to the United States every year for four months and she’s been doing that for the last four years and she does not have one stamp for entering or exiting the United States in her passport. It’s all on the computer and if she ever wants a record of it there’s a form called the I 94. I always print a copy of it and send it to her before she comes in case there’s any questions about the validity of her visa.
The dates on your E visa is the window that you have to use the Visa in other words, you have 90 days to use the visa has nothing to do with your length of stay.