Handle each person's status separately and confirm what each needs before travelling. Eligible spouses and unmarried children under 21 may seek L-2, and a spouse in valid L-2S status is employment authorized incident to status. Children are not work authorized by L-2. Later arrivals need their own documents.
Do not assume the family follows automatically
A staged move means dependants may apply after the principal has already been admitted, and their steps can raise their own questions and timing. Decide who holds copies of the approval and supporting documents on both sides of the border. If a spouse plans to work, check what their status permits before they accept an offer with a start date.
Keep schooling and housing decisions behind confirmed dependent outcomes. One more thing is worth deciding before anyone travels: what the household does with documents. In a staged move the family will need to produce the same papers on two continents, sometimes at short notice and sometimes when the person holding the originals is in the wrong country.
Agree where originals live, who holds certified copies, and how a document is obtained at forty-eight hours' notice. Then confirm each passport's expiry against the whole intended period rather than the first step of it. Hypothetical example: a language-school network's principal is admitted first and holds the corporate documents, while the spouse's later application needs the same set, and a single scanned index agreed at the outset saves a fortnight of couriered originals and rebooked appointments.