An unmarried child under 21 in L dependent status does not receive the employment authorization available to qualifying L spouses. A company internship needs its own appropriate authorization.
Plan education and employment separately
The parent’s specialist role and the employer’s willingness to host the child do not change the child’s work permission. Describe whether the proposed activity is study, employment or something else before relying on a school or business label. Check the child’s actual status and dates rather than using the parent’s approval as the complete family record.
The spouse and child rules are the same whether the principal transfers as a manager or on specialized knowledge, which surprises people who assume the more limited category carries more limited family rights. If the intention is to return, schooling and housing decisions can be made accordingly and the spouse's career planned around a defined period, since employment authorisation ends when the underlying status does.
- USCIS — L classification documentation and evidence
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.12
- 8 USC 1184 — specialized knowledge definition
- USCIS — employment authorization for certain spouses
- ICE — nonimmigrant classes that may study
- USCIS — fee schedule
- USCIS document translation standard — 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)
- L definitions, foreign employment and new-office evidence
- L1B specialized knowledge and offsite placement statute