Only budget it with an accurate understanding of the spouse’s own status and actual employment arrangement. A qualifying L spouse may work incident to valid dependent status with appropriate spouse-specific I-94 evidence.
Keep a proposed household income separate from guaranteed resources
A planned hire does not establish current work permission or current staffing. An accompanying L child must be unmarried and under 21 and does not obtain the spouse’s employment authorization to contribute labor to the new office.
L-1A permits a maximum of seven years; an L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status, while L-2 children may study but not work. A projected salary is a planning figure, not a confirmed source of income, and treating it as certain before the underlying status and job offer are actually settled can leave a household short. Separate the timeline for confirming the spouse's status from the timeline for the employer finalizing the position, since either can move slower than expected without affecting the other. Build a contingency budget that does not depend on that income arriving by a particular date, and revisit the plan once each piece is actually confirmed rather than only proposed. Ask the prospective employer for a written offer contingent on status rather than an informal understanding, since a verbal plan is harder to rely on if either process is delayed. Keep the household's core expenses covered independently of that projected income until it is no longer projected.