The relevant permission depends on individual status and documentation, not the usefulness of the skill. Review each proposed activity separately.
Check the status-based work permission
Qualifying L spouses are employment authorized incident to status with appropriate evidence. Children do not gain work permission solely through L dependent status. A request for translation or informal assistance should not be assumed authorized without assessing the person’s circumstances.
The spouse of an L-1B transferee is admitted in L-2 status and, under current policy, holds employment authorization by virtue of that status without a separate application. Determine whether the spouse's proposed “help” is productive activity that ordinarily belongs to a worker, regardless of pay or duration. Derivative L-2 status for unmarried children ends at twenty-one, and nothing about the parent’s petition extends it. Children may attend school in L-2 status and, as with every derivative category, a child who reaches 21 during the assignment needs a new basis to remain. The principal must independently show a qualifying related organization, an uninterrupted foreign-employment year within the relevant prior three-year period, and genuinely specialized company knowledge for the US assignment.