Ownership does not itself establish work permission. Review each person’s individual status and intended activity.
Separate rights from immigration status
Qualifying L spouses are employment authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation. Dependent children do not receive work permission solely through L status. Any independent work proposal must be assessed on its own requirements.
A qualifying L spouse may work incident to valid dependent status with the applicable evidence; the principal’s knowledge is not transferred as a qualification. An intellectual-property or confidentiality agreement signed by the principal applicant covers that individual specifically, not automatically every family member who might later come into contact with the same company materials at work. Ask whether any proposed activity for the spouse would actually require its own separate agreement with the company, since that kind of document is a business matter handled independently of the immigration file itself. Review the full written terms of any such agreement very carefully before the spouse begins any work at all, because signing it does not itself answer whether the spouse is authorized to work in the first place. Keep the business agreement and the status confirmation as two genuinely distinct steps, completed in whichever order the employer requires, but confirm both in writing before treating any proposed activity as settled or approved by either side of the arrangement.