Keep dependent plans conditional while the qualifying employment history is reviewed. Eligible spouses and unmarried children under 21 may seek L-2 based on the principal’s qualifying case; appropriate dependent steps can be coordinated. A spouse may also have an independent route requiring separate assessment. Do not assume the proposed move is available before the dates are checked.
Sequence family decisions behind the chronology check
Resignations, school applications, and housing decisions should wait for the assessment, where a commitment depends on this unresolved eligibility question. Where the person has been travelling frequently, the family may already be treating the move as a formality. Say plainly that it is not.
If the chronology falls short, the useful outcome may be a plan to build the required period rather than a filing now. Say plainly to the household what the review might conclude, since the range is wider than families usually expect: the case proceeds now, the case proceeds after a stated date once the qualifying period is complete, or the route does not fit. Each of those is a different plan.
Dependent status extends to a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, and a spouse in valid L-2S status is generally employment authorized incident to that status while children are not, so a household's second income depends on the principal's case resolving in the first or second way rather than the third.