Dependent L-2 spouses are employment-authorized incident to status. Children may study but not work, and dependent eligibility ends at twenty-one regardless of any earlier period spent in the country.
Earlier time does not extend a child's eligibility
Families returning for a second assignment sometimes assume that continuity of some kind protects them, and on the question of a child's age it does not. Dependent eligibility ends at twenty-one, and a child who was fifteen during a first posting and is twenty during a second is close to the boundary. The realistic alternative for that young adult is usually a student classification, which is a separate application with its own requirements and needs an institution to issue documents first. On the spouse's side the position is better: employment authorization arises from the status itself, so a spouse may take a job, subject to an employer's ordinary verification requirements. Families should also keep their own record of previous periods in the country, since it becomes relevant to more than one calculation.
Hypothetical example: Talia, a Canadian operations executive, expects to relocate with her husband and an unmarried daughter aged twenty. The family’s first review should list each person’s age, relationship, passport validity, and immediate plans for work or study. Birth and marriage records settle the relationship, while the daughter’s age makes timing decisive. Her husband should confirm his work-authorized status documentation before accepting a U.S. position rather than relying on an employer’s assumption. The family should also make a separate plan for any parent, adult child, or partner who is not within the derivative category, because household dependence does not change that rule.