A spouse and unmarried children under 21 may apply for L-2 status. An L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status; L-2 children may study but are not authorized to work.
Planning each person's year
The spouse's position is comparatively clear: once in L-2 status, employment is permitted without a separate application for authorization, although the spouse should carry the documentation that evidences that status and should confirm what a particular employer will accept. Children may enrol in school in L-2 status. The trap for this household is age: a child who turns 21 during the assignment loses L-2 eligibility and needs a different basis to stay, and that date should be circled at the start rather than discovered in year two.
If the spouse holds Canadian permanent residence rather than citizenship, the consular process for L-2 will differ from a Canadian citizen's, so gather each passport early. Because a new-office petition is approved for one year, the family should decide whether to move together at the outset or have the director open the facility alone for the first months, and that decision belongs on the household timeline next to the school calendar.