Read the general life across the border overview
The principal travelling ahead and the household following later are separate immigration events, each with its own documents, its own permitted activities and its own timetable. Record them that way from the start.
Identify who intends to travel and when
When the principal moves first and the rest of the household follows, write one record per person rather than one record for the family. For each name, set down the intended date of travel, the status that person would hold, the documents that establish it, and what they intend to do after arrival: study at a particular level, take employment, or neither. A school term is a planning constraint, not an immigration milestone, and the two drift apart easily; a place held for September does not create permission to be present in September, and an offer accepted for a child does not settle whether a parent may work. Where a date is genuinely unsettled, record it as unsettled with the reason, because a single confident family arrival date invented for tidiness will later conflict with the documents. Note also who is not coming yet and why, since a relative who stays behind for a period may need their own evidence when they do travel.
Apply the temporary dependent rules
The dependent categories differ from one another, so name the one that applies before assuming anything about work. A person in TD status may study but may not be employed. Spouses in eligible L-2 and E classifications are generally authorized to work incident to valid spousal status, and that authorization belongs to the spouse's own admission and record, which is where it should be confirmed rather than inferred from the principal's approval notice. Unmarried children under twenty-one may qualify as dependants, but dependent-child status in L-2 or E carries no employment authorization at all. Read those rules against the plan as written. Hypothetical example: a household intends the spouse to take a part-time job once the children are settled and the seventeen-year-old to work weekends. The first depends on the classification the spouse is actually admitted in and on that admission being valid; the second is not available through dependent-child status whatever the spouse's position turns out to be.
Keep immigrant family planning distinct
Permanent-residence planning runs on a separate clock and should not be used to explain what a family may do next month. Under EB-5, a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one may generally seek derivative status, subject to the applicable age-protection provisions and the other rules, and a child approaching twenty-one needs an individual assessment rather than a general reassurance; conditional residence begins at immigrant admission or at approval of adjustment, not when the petition is approved. The Gold Card framework is different in kind: it recommends that intended eligible joining family members be included from the outset, and it carries separate charges for them, with the payment running from the applicant to the U.S. government rather than in the other direction. It is not an EB-5 investment and should not be described as one. In neither case does the principal's payment, or the approval of the principal's petition, by itself give any family member residence or permission to work. Each person's permission is established individually, and the temporary and permanent tracks should be kept visibly apart in the plan.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-08. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.
- Department of State — TN professional workers
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.17
- USTR — USMCA Chapter 16 Appendix 2
- USCIS — fee schedule
- ICE — nonimmigrant classes that may study
- TN qualification and procedure regulation
- USCIS — L classification documentation and evidence
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.12
- USCIS — employment authorization for certain spouses
- L definitions, foreign employment and new-office evidence
- 8 USC 1184 — specialized knowledge definition
- L1B specialized knowledge and offsite placement statute
- Department of State — treaty investors
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.9
- USCIS — EB-5 investor program
- USCIS — business and investment visa overview
- USCIS — Child Status Protection Act
- Department of State — Visa Bulletin
- Current EB5 capital statute; not obsolete regulatory thresholds
- Direct qualifying employees and full-time positions
- Official U.S. government Gold Card FAQ