A qualifying L spouse may have status-based work authorization with appropriate evidence. That benefit does not establish the enterprise’s staffing facts or the principal’s managerial capacity.
Describe any real employment accurately
Do not invent a spouse’s position to support the chart. Evaluate their actual status and activities separately. The dependent category is for a qualifying spouse or unmarried child under 21; each person needs valid status.
Spouses of L-1 principals hold work authorization by virtue of their status rather than by separate grant, and the admission record itself evidences it, so there is no waiting period between arrival and a first pay cheque. Confirm what duties, if any, the spouse will keep performing for the Canadian business and how, since ongoing Canadian employment or self-employment does not by itself affect L-2 eligibility but may raise separate tax or corporate questions. A spouse may take employment anywhere, including work unrelated to the family business, which often stabilises a household's income during a first year when the new operation is consuming cash rather than producing it. Children admitted as dependants may enrol in school; a child who reaches 21 must obtain an independent status, and a household with a nineteen-year-old should plan for that rather than discover it at an extension.