A spouse in the dependent status attached to this classification is employment-authorized incident to status and may work. Children may study at any level, may not work, and cease to qualify as dependants at twenty-one.
Two rules, applied to two different people
The distinction matters because families hear the word dependant and assume a single set of rights. For the spouse, authorization to work arises from the status itself, which means employment with any employer is available without a separate permission being granted first, subject to satisfying the ordinary verification a U.S. employer must perform. For children, study is permitted at any level and employment is not, at any age, including casual or freelance work. Dependent eligibility ends on the twenty-first birthday, and because assignments in this classification can run for years, a family with a teenager should map that date against the expected duration at the outset. The alternatives available to a nineteen-year-old are wider than those available at twenty and eleven months.
Hypothetical example: Hiro, a Canadian food-safety systems specialist, plans to move with his spouse and eighteen-year-old stepson. The first review should confirm whether the marriage and parent-child documentation establish the relationship and whether the stepson will remain unmarried and under the age limit throughout the process. Those records settle derivative eligibility; school and employment plans require separate practical decisions. The spouse should obtain the right evidence of work-authorized status before starting a job, while the stepson should plan education without assuming he can work. The family should also consider the five-year principal limit when deciding whether a degree programme will extend beyond the assignment.