Client-facing roles often involve short-notice travel and coverage duties that are hard to predict in the first months, so plan the household schedule around that rather than an assumed steady start. Eligible spouses and unmarried children under 21 may seek L2, and L2 does not give children employment authorisation.
Ask what the first six months look like
Get a realistic account from the receiving manager of expected travel, on-call duties, and how much of the work would sit at client sites. Households make different decisions when one adult is frequently away. If a spouse plans to work, treat that as a separate assessment, noting that a spouse in valid L2S status is authorised to work incident to status rather than through a universal document requirement.
Ask the receiving manager for an honest account of the first six months: expected travel, on-call duties, and how much of the work would sit at customer premises. Households make different decisions when one adult is frequently away, and that answer usually arrives only if the question is asked directly. Eligible spouses and unmarried children under twenty-one may seek dependent classification, a spouse in valid dependent status is employment authorised incident to that status, and children are not authorised to work.
Where a spouse plans to work, treat it as a separate assessment with its own timeline. Decide whether school enrolment or a spouse's start date should govern the arrival, and put that decision in writing.