A spouse and unmarried children under 21 may qualify for TD status, with steps that depend on each person's own nationality. TD permits study but does not authorize employment, so a spouse cannot take a position at either organization on that status. Responsibility here sits with the dependant, not with either institution. Neither employer can extend work permission to a spouse, and no departmental assurance changes what TD authorizes. A spouse holding an offer becomes an applicant in their own right, with a separate analysis that starts from their own nationality and the position offered.
Keep dependent plans separate from the appointment
Research households often assume a spouse can pick up laboratory or teaching work at the same site. TD status does not authorize that, whether the work is paid, unpaid, on site, or remote. If a spouse has an offer of their own, it needs its own authorization analysis rather than an assumption that the family arrangement follows the principal's appointment.
Where a household plans two careers, order the questions by who must act. The principal's authorization comes first, since dependent status derives from it; the spouse's own route is assessed independently and may not resemble it at all. Study is permitted on TD, which sometimes covers a transition year while another authorization is pursued.
Unpaid work, volunteer arrangements at the same site and remote work for a Canadian employer all raise questions to put to counsel rather than settle on a colleague's recollection.