Qualifying L spouses may be employment-authorized incident to status with appropriate documentation.
Use the spouse’s own evidence
An employment authorization document is not universally required for qualifying L spouses. The principal’s handoff or approval does not replace the individual status review; children receive no work permission solely through L dependent status.
Travel benefits and housing support are commercial arrangements; eligible family members still need their own status and documentation assessed. A spouse who has held more than one status, a child who spent a year studying elsewhere, a period when someone travelled separately — each is part of the household's history and each may matter when options are being weighed. Children are derivatives only while unmarried and under 21, and a child who reaches that age during the assignment loses derivative status and needs an independent basis to remain, which is worth mapping against a seven-year ceiling rather than against the first petition. Children admitted as dependants may enrol in school; a child who reaches 21 must obtain an independent status, and a household with a nineteen-year-old should plan for that rather than discover it at an extension.