Plan for the possibility that the partner's timeline differs from the principal's, including the possibility that it does not resolve. That means keeping housing, employment, and school decisions reversible, and deciding in advance what the household will do if only one case moves forward.
Decide the contingency before the move, not during it
Households often discover the gap after a start date is set, which forces rushed choices. Talk through concrete scenarios: one person relocating first, a period apart, or declining the offer. Where children are involved, confirm their eligibility individually, since each child's age and marital status matter separately. Writing the contingency down while nobody is under time pressure produces better decisions than improvising at the last moment.
TD permits study and does not authorize employment, so a spouse cannot take paid work to fill long stretches alone, including remote work. The gap between a drafted package and an assessed one is exactly when households tend to make irreversible decisions, because the offer feels settled. A TD dependant may not take employment in the United States, and no length of stay changes that. Do not confuse Canadian permanent residence with citizenship when assessing the principal’s TN route.