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PORT COLBORNE · L-1B FIELD GUIDE

Does the specialist’s qualifying year establish relatives’ status?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Each relative’s eligibility and actual status need assessment. Qualifying L spouses have a status-based work benefit with appropriate evidence; children do not receive it solely as dependents.

Keep personal records separate

A principal employment history is not a spouse or child admission record. Identify the actual household plan. The dependent category is for a qualifying spouse or unmarried child under 21; each person needs valid status.

Record the accompanying family members' citizenship, relationship evidence, and intended work or study plans as with any other L-1B case, independent of how personally connected the assignment happens to be. 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. The principal’s case separately requires a qualifying organizational relationship, a continuous foreign year within the applicable prior three, and specialized company knowledge used in the US assignment. Keep the invoice and the evidence of permission in different files: one proves a purchased service, the other supports the activity the spouse plans to undertake.