Dependents typically follow the principal's status and its temporary characterization, so a longer-term goal raises similar intent questions for the family as a whole. TD itself doesn't authorize employment, and any separate route for a spouse should be assessed on its own timeline.
Coordinate family documentation with the same care
If a spouse or children have their own longer-term plans, such as separate study or work paths, those need their own review rather than assuming TD status covers them. Keep the family's paperwork, addresses, school records, consistent with whichever stage the household is actually at, and revisit dependent planning whenever the principal applicant's strategy shifts. The household should understand two separate limits at the same time.
Dependents in this category hold TD status, which carries no work authorization, so a spouse intending to work needs an independent basis assessed on its own facts and its own timeline. And a spouse's own longer-term plans, whether study, a professional registration or a separate immigration route, do not inherit the principal's position and can raise their own questions. Reviewing each family member individually is more work at the outset and considerably less work later, particularly where a child's schooling or a partner's career is being arranged around an assumption.
Ask counsel to confirm each family member's position in writing.