An L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and may work for any employer, evidenced by the annotated I-94. L-2 children may attend school but cannot work, and they age out of the classification at 21. Family members who are not Canadian citizens need L-2 visas.
Spousal work rights are the same for L-1B as for L-1A
The L-2 classification does not distinguish between the specialized-knowledge and managerial branches of L-1, so Nadia's spouse enjoys the same incident-to-status work authorization an L-1A manager's spouse would, and can take a job or start a business without a separate approval, using the I-94 annotation for employment verification. Her children can enrol in school directly. The family's status follows hers: if her L-1B is limited to a particular validity period, theirs is too, and every extension she files should be paired with theirs. One practical point for a specialist travelling constantly between hospital sites: the family's admission is tied to her maintaining status, not to her physical presence at a fixed workplace, so frequent travel does not affect them. A child approaching 21 should have an alternative status arranged before the birthday.
Hypothetical example: A brewery fermentation-process specialist relocates with a spouse and an adult child who is about to turn twenty-one. The review should chart each family member’s passport, status expiration and independent plans. A qualifying L spouse may be authorized to work incident to status, while a child has study options but does not receive the same work benefit. The urgent decision is whether the older child needs a student or other independent category before the age limit. Leaving the issue to the principal’s extension filing can create a gap in lawful status.