TD does not authorize employment, even if the job is short or unrelated to the principal.
Plan income using the spouse’s own permission
An eligible spouse or unmarried child under 21 may study while maintaining TD status. Neither a seasonal label nor a different employer supplies work authorization. Identify any proposed activity and location before relying on it in the household budget.
Document the spouse's intended remote work in detail and confirm whether a separate work authorization route applies, rather than assuming a Canadian client relationship is irrelevant. A spouse who intends to earn anything in the United States must qualify independently, and the USMCA list is professional, so a supervisor of seasonal orchard labour without a listed degree does not fit it. What TD does not do is authorize work, with remote work and unpaid placements requiring specific review, and that limit reaches school-linked roles such as assistantships as much as outside employment. If a spouse expects to work, treat it as a separate authorisation question, and coordinate school or childcare timing around the same two-checkpoint sequence the principal faces rather than around a single date.