Internal approval does not grant the spouse’s status or work permission. A qualifying L spouse may work incident to valid status with appropriate evidence, such as the relevant spouse-designated I-94.
Check the spouse’s actual record
An eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21 can seek L dependent status, but children do not receive the spouse’s work authorization. The principal’s petition or company resolution is not the spouse’s admission record. Track the actual classification and authorized dates before planning employment, including work for the same group.
The single most useful thing a family can do is verify what appears on each arrival record when they enter, rather than months later when a spouse has a job offer and the record turns out to say something unexpected. Practical steps still matter — employers will need to see documentation acceptable for employment verification — so the family should raise this early rather than assuming a new employer will understand the position. Children in L-2 may attend school but may not work, and their eligibility ends at twenty-one, so a household with an older teenager should map that person's own route early rather than assume the family status covers them.