Read the general life across the border overview
Hypothetical example: the Lavoie household plans a move from Bonfield. One spouse holds a TN offer in a listed profession. The other intends to keep her existing job with a Canadian employer, working from the new home, and the two school-age children will enrol locally. The plan sounds tidy and it contains one serious error: TD permits study but not employment, and work performed from inside the United States is work regardless of who signs the cheque or where that employer is located.
Why the Canadian payroll does not solve it
Families reason that a Canadian employer, Canadian payroll and Canadian clients keep the work outside the United States. The activity, not the payer, is what matters. Sitting at a desk in the United States performing services is work in the United States, and TD carries no employment authorization at all. Neither does an arrangement where the spouse is paid as a contractor rather than an employee, nor one where she reduces her hours, nor one where she works unpaid for a period. The children's enrolment is straightforward by comparison, since TD dependants may attend school, and it is the working spouse's plan that needs to change.
What the household can do instead
Three directions are worth examining. The spouse can seek her own status that permits employment, which depends on her citizenship, credentials and whether an employer will sponsor her. The household can reconsider which parent is the principal, because the derivative rights differ sharply by category: L-2 and E-2 spouses are employment-authorized incident to status, while TD spouses are not. Or the spouse can genuinely stop working during the assignment, which is a real choice but should be made deliberately rather than discovered. Each option changes the timeline, so the comparison belongs at the start of planning rather than after a house is sold.
The other dates the Lavoie household should write down
Derivative status for a child ends at 21, so each child's birthday belongs on the plan even when both are young, because assignments extend. A common-law relationship is not a marriage for these purposes, and a spouse relying on TD needs a legally recognized marriage. TN admission is granted for a period not exceeding three years and is renewable, so renewals will re-examine the same facts, including whether the family's arrangements have quietly changed. If a child later wants to study at a U.S. institution as an adult, that is a separate route with its own requirements, and the SEVP materials describe how student status works.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.