Do not assume so. Have the effect of the actual decision and each person’s current status assessed before relying on work or travel plans.
Review current rights rather than anticipated outcomes
Qualifying L spouses are employment authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation. Children receive no work permission solely through L dependent status. Planning a new case does not itself establish that qualifying status or resolve an existing status issue.
Confirm the spouse was admitted in valid L-2 spouse status and retain the appropriate status evidence; employment authorization is incident to that status. A receipt notice confirms only that a new filing was accepted for review, not that any previously lapsed authorization has actually already been restored in the meantime. Ask counsel exactly which specific activities remain available while that decision is still genuinely pending, since a filing already in process does not automatically reopen questions that a prior status issue already raised earlier. Avoid resuming any paid activity based on the filing date alone, because the date that actually matters is the date of approval, not the date a case was originally submitted for review by counsel. Confirm the actual current status of every single affected family member individually and separately, since a single household filing can still leave one person's position genuinely different from another person's own.