Read the general life across the border overview
A La Prairie household may plan for one parent to travel before a spouse and children. Separate bookings can make it easy to overlook the immigration document and status each person will actually use. Build one table for the household with a row per person: category, document, validity dates, intended arrival, and who is expected to work or study. A single sheet catches the mismatches that separate bookings hide.
Record each person’s basis and dates
List the principal’s category and each family member’s intended derivative basis, document validity and planned arrival. Follow the applicable principal-and-derivative sequence; do not infer eligibility from a shared surname or travel booking. Individual relationship and age requirements still matter. For the temporary dependent categories discussed here, children generally must be unmarried and under 21; verify the actual qualifying relationship and continuing eligibility before travel. Sequence matters as much as eligibility. A derivative's position depends on the principal's, so a family member arriving first raises questions that a family member arriving later does not. Where separate travel is unavoidable, ask counsel what each person should carry and in what order the arrivals should happen, and obtain the answer before tickets are bought rather than at the airport.
Check employment permission separately
An eligible E or L spouse may be work-authorized incident to valid spousal status, with the appropriate evidence of that status. A TD spouse is not authorized to work under TD. Children do not receive work permission merely through these dependent categories. A job offer does not replace the required basis. Hypothetical example: the spouse of a drug master file coordinator plans to start work the week after arriving; whether that is possible depends on the principal's category and on the spouse's own status and documentation, and the answer differs between the categories discussed here. Write the answer into the household plan beside the start date, because a job offer arranged around an assumption is expensive to unwind.
Reconcile the plan after actual admission
Retain each person’s admission record and review discrepancies promptly through the appropriate process. A school start date, rented home or the other parent’s longer stay does not extend a person’s own authorized period. Use the actual records for the next steps rather than the original proposed itinerary. After each admission, photograph or download the record the same day and check the class and the end date against what was expected. Errors are correctable through the appropriate process and are far easier to address in the first weeks than months later, when a renewal or a payroll check brings them to light. Keep the household table updated with the actual dates, so the next step starts from the record rather than from the plan. Keep one person responsible for the table, because a household document plan maintained by everybody is maintained by nobody, and the gaps show up at the moment a record is needed.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.