Read the general life across the border overview
Hypothetical example: the Bergeron-Nwosu household plans to move together. The principal transfers on L-1A; the spouse teaches and wants to keep working; there is a seventeen-year-old finishing secondary school and a twenty-two-year-old in a trades program. Three of the four have a route. The fourth has already aged out of derivative status and needs a plan of their own, and delay makes the seventeen-year-old's position worse rather than better.
The spouse can work; the derivative children cannot
A qualifying L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status, needing no separate permit before starting a job, with the annotated Form I-94 serving as the evidence an employer asks for. So the teaching career can continue in the United States, subject to whatever state licensing the profession itself requires, which is a separate question from immigration status. The seventeen-year-old, admitted in L-2 as an unmarried child under twenty-one, may attend school but may not work at all, including part-time or summer employment. That restriction surprises families used to teenagers holding jobs, and it is absolute.
The twenty-two-year-old is not a derivative and never will be
Derivative eligibility ends at twenty-one. The older child cannot be included in the household's L-2 status at any point and needs an independent basis to be in the United States at all. Study is the usual route, which means admission to an institution certified for that purpose and the accompanying student status, with its own application, its own evidence and its own timeline. Employment would require a category open to them in their own right. This is not a formality to be handled after the move; it should be started before the family commits to dates, because the alternative is a young adult left behind.
What changes if the plan slips: the seventeen-year-old is on a clock
If the transfer is delayed a year and a half, the younger child arrives at nineteen and turns twenty-one two years later, inside the principal's first period. Derivative status ends on that birthday rather than tapering, so the family should decide now whether that child will move into student status, and when. A further consequence of delay: the whole household's status depends on the principal's, so if the L-1A ends early the spouse's job must stop and the younger child's school enrolment is affected. Each person's own citizenship, age and intended activity determines their route, whatever the principal holds.
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.