Assess the spouse’s own status and proposed work while physically in the United States. Qualifying L spouses may work incident to valid status with appropriate evidence; the principal’s transfer alone does not authorize them.
Check authorization before scheduling household work
A foreign employer or foreign payment does not resolve U.S. work permission. Qualifying unmarried children under 21 may hold L dependent status but do not obtain the spouse’s work benefit.
The applicant's principal route should follow the actual role, not an assumption that a different L subcategory changes a spouse's permissions. A family interest in the article or a description of the task as unpaid does not automatically resolve work authorization. Assess the actual activity and the spouse’s work permission rather than assume accompaniment permits project work. Households plan around the principal's dates and rarely around the children's. A household that arrives with children in primary school will face that date while those children are still in school. Proper L-2S spousal documentation supports work incident to status; L-2 children lack employment permission, and neither derives specialized-knowledge authority from the principal. An L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and may be self-employed, provided the admission record carries the spouse annotation.