The spouse needs appropriate work permission for the actual activity. The principal’s L-1B assignment does not automatically authorize another worker.
Review the spouse’s own status
Qualifying L spouse status may carry employment authorization with required evidence. Pending preparation or unpaid assistance should not be treated as permission.
List the specialist, spouse, and children separately with relationship proof, ages, L-2 admission evidence, school arrangements, and proposed business involvement. Families sometimes plan a move on the principal's role alone and then find the spouse's position is either much better or much worse than assumed depending on the classification chosen. Dependent status in the L category is available to a legally recognised spouse and to unmarried children under 21, and a common-law or de facto partner does not qualify as a spouse. The principal’s L-1B classification still rests on the qualifying relationship, continuous full-time foreign year within the prescribed three-year period, and specialized-knowledge duties. Derivative status ends at twenty-one, and where the assignment is expected to run the full five years, any child aged seventeen or older at the start will need an independent basis before it finishes. Eligible spouses and unmarried children under twenty-one may seek dependent classification, and a spouse in valid dependent status is authorised to work incident to that status; have any spouse's plan assessed on its own facts.