Read the general life across the border overview
A household weighing a temporary work category against a permanent immigrant route should assess each family member separately, since spousal work authorization, dependent status and the underlying category eligibility do not transfer automatically from one plan to the other. Build the comparison around each person's actual status question, not one household-wide assumption. Ages belong in that assessment alongside status. Dependent classifications generally extend to a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, so a child's birthday is a fixed boundary that no amount of preparation moves, and it frequently turns out to be the earliest hard date in the whole household plan.
Assess the primary applicant's category fit first
Whether a temporary route or a permanent route is realistic depends on facts specific to that person: a listed profession and credentials for a temporary professional category, or a qualifying investment, corporate relationship, or immigrant petition basis for a permanent route. These are separate legal tests, and meeting one does not establish the other; each should be checked against its own requirements before comparing timelines. Where more than one adult in the household could be the principal, examine both before choosing. The choice determines whose credentials carry the case, whose employer or enterprise the family depends on, and what the other adult may do, and it is far easier to make at the outset than to revisit later. Record the reasoning as well as the decision, since a change in either person's circumstances can make the alternative the better answer and the analysis is then already half done.
Check each dependent's status separately
Qualifying E-2 and L-2 spouses are employment authorized incident to their valid spousal status; they do not need a separate Form I-765 approval to start work. TD status itself does not authorize employment. Children in TD, L-2 and E-2 dependent status do not gain employment authorization from those classifications. Do not extend that temporary-status rule to a child who later becomes a lawful permanent resident. Compare each person's actual classification and evidence at each stage of the household plan. Confirm each dependent's evidence in the form it will actually be presented, not in the abstract. After admission, retrieve and read the electronic admission record, check the classification and expiry against what was expected, and raise any discrepancy with counsel rather than with the employer, who cannot resolve it. Keep the marriage certificate, the children's birth records and any translations in one accessible place, since relationship evidence supports the dependent applications themselves and is requested at inconvenient moments.
Weigh timing honestly, without assuming a date
Permanent routes generally involve a petition step and, depending on category, a numerical availability wait that a temporary category does not have; neither route has a guaranteed processing time, and no approval outcome should be assumed at the planning stage. A realistic comparison sets out what has to happen at each step for each person, and treats an earlier working arrival under a temporary category and a later permanent outcome as two different plans that can run in sequence, not interchangeable options. Hypothetical example: a household with a nineteen-year-old and a twelve-year-old plans a move and treats the two children identically. A first review would separate them immediately: the younger child's position follows the parents for years, while the elder has roughly two before dependent eligibility ends and needs an independent basis prepared well in advance. Setting both timelines on one page usually shows that the elder child's requirements, not the parents', determine when the work has to begin.
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.