Read the general life across the border overview
Hypothetical example: a Coaldale household is choosing between two U.S. offers for one partner while the other, a licensed practical nurse, intends to keep working. The categories treat spouses very differently, and for this family that difference matters more than salary. Working backwards from the second career, rather than forwards from the first offer, produces a better decision.
Dependant status does not automatically permit employment
A dependant admitted with a professional worker under the USMCA provisions may accompany the principal and may study, but is not employment-authorized on that basis. A spouse admitted in L-2 status is employment-authorized incident to that status, and so is the spouse of a treaty investor in E status. Those are meaningfully different outcomes for the same household. Establish which one applies to each offer under consideration before comparing anything else, because a family that loses one income has changed its finances more than a difference in salary usually does.
The spouse may also have a route of her own
If the second career appears in the list of covered professions and the person meets that profession's requirement, she may be admitted in her own right rather than as a dependant, with her own employer and her own letter. That path needs its own prearranged employment, so it takes preparation on a parallel track and cannot be arranged after arrival. Where her occupation is licensed, the destination state's licensing process is its own project with its own timetable. Two independent applications also mean two sets of documents and, potentially, two employers to coordinate.
Children need their own line on the plan
Children admitted as derivatives may attend school. Employment is a separate question that derivative status does not answer, and any job would require its own lawful basis. Derivative eligibility ends at twenty-one, so a seventeen-year-old and a five-year plan need to be looked at together rather than separately. Note each child's date of birth against the expected duration, check each family member's citizenship rather than assuming it follows the principal's, and record what each person intends to do on arrival — study, work, or neither — because that intention determines the route for that person.
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: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.