No. A TD spouse accompanying a TN professional has no independent work authorization, and that does not change with the length of the assignment. A TD spouse may study, and any employment would require the spouse to qualify for a category of their own.
The spouse's own qualifications decide the spouse's route
Households often discover this late, after a second income has already been assumed in the budget. The rule is category-specific rather than general: TD carries no employment authorization, while a qualifying L-2 or E-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status under current policy. Where a spouse holds a profession that appears on the USMCA list in their own right and is a Canadian or Mexican citizen, the more productive question is whether that spouse should apply as a principal rather than as a dependant, with each spouse holding their own classification. Unmarried children under twenty-one may hold TD and may attend school, and a child who turns twenty-one no longer qualifies as a dependant and needs a status of their own. Each of these points should be checked against current guidance with a licensed adviser.
A household review should start with a calendar, not a travel booking. Record the principal's intended classification, each dependant's passport nationality, school plans, and any job offer held by a spouse. TD status does not give a spouse permission to take paid work, even if the family expects to live together. The principal's TN employment must be prearranged and cannot be self-employment; a Canadian may seek classification when entering, while an employer can file I-129. Hypothetical example: A botanical illustrator accepts a U.S. museum contract and her spouse has a remote consulting client. The family needs to separate the illustrator's qualifying employment from the spouse's independent work question before treating the move as feasible.