Eligible spouses and unmarried children under 21 may seek L-2 status. A qualifying L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status, while dependent children do not receive work authorization simply by holding L-2 status.
Review each family member's status and plans on their own
Record citizenship, the relationship evidence, ages, and the intended arrival dates for each person. Confirm the spouse's own documentation of employment authorization rather than assuming a physical card is always issued or always required, and track children's schooling and age-related deadlines separately from the principal applicant's timeline.
When a household's budget depends on the accompanying spouse's income, the dependent side of an L-1A move stops being paperwork and becomes the planning constraint. If a spouse intends to work, treat their authorization as a separate step with its own timing, and keep housing and enrolment commitments behind confirmed outcomes. Do not make housing, school, or employment commitments based only on a petition receipt; read the admission record and current category. Where the spouse holds a professional registration or an independent route of their own, raise it in the same conversation, since an independent basis sometimes arrives sooner than the dependent one and changes the plan entirely.