A principal’s promotion does not give the spouse TD work rights. TD still prohibits employment while physically in the United States, including remote work for a Canadian company.
Keep the promotion decision out of the spouse’s permission record
Read the promotion letter for the principal’s changed duties, employer and start date. Assess any effect on the principal’s own TN case separately; none of those career changes establishes a spouse’s independent work eligibility. TD dependents must be a qualifying spouse or unmarried child under 21, and the classification authorizes neither to work. If the promotion changes the household’s location or income expectations, identify the spouse’s actual proposed activity and have an appropriate work basis assessed before committing. A larger salary, senior title or expanded benefits package cannot extend the principal’s employment permission to relatives.
TD status permits study but carries no employment authorization of its own, so an agency contract, payroll setup, unpaid trial, or mere customer access does not let the spouse work. Dependent status extends to unmarried children under twenty-one and permits study, but it does not authorize employment for them either, so an older teenager expecting summer work needs a separate answer.