Business success does not establish family immigration rights. Review the actual eligibility and status of each person separately.
Use status evidence for family planning
Qualifying L spouses are employment authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation. Children gain no work permission solely through L dependent status. The principal’s performance record does not change those distinctions.
An L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and does not need a separate employment authorization document to work, though many still obtain one for convenience with employers. The authorization comes from the status itself rather than from an application, and it is broad: employment with an American employer, self-employment, or starting a venture are all within it. Relationship certificates settle the derivative link, but they do not give children a spouse’s work permission. The practical steps are administrative: ensuring the admission record correctly reflects L-2 status, and obtaining a social security number so that payroll can be run. The principal still must independently show the qualifying corporate relationship, one continuous foreign employment year in the prior three, and primarily managerial or executive U.S. duties. The family file should be sequenced after the principal petition is approvable, with marriage and birth records prepared in the form the consulate or inspection process requires.