The principal’s approval does not itself authorize the spouse’s employment. Assess the spouse’s actual qualifying status and intended activity separately.
Use the spouse’s own work basis
Qualifying L spouses are employment authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation. Children gain no work permission solely through L dependent status. A commercial relationship between employers does not replace individual immigration authorization.
Keep the employer’s internal effective date separate from admission, status and the spouse’s permission. A manager’s decision to offer work does not by itself supply the family member’s lawful US authorization. Treat the spouse as a separate worker, not spare capacity in the principal’s organizational chart. A spouse's passport may corroborate a trip, but it cannot establish where the principal worked, what duties were performed, or whether one continuous foreign year falls in the prior three. Family planning follows the principal’s status but has its own evidence and timing. Children hold L-2 status as dependants until they turn 21 or marry; they can attend school and cannot take paid work. If the spouse is a Canadian permanent resident rather than a citizen, L-2 is still available because it follows the principal, unlike TD, which depends on the principal's citizenship only.