A proposed family role should remain identified as proposed, with actual permission assessed for any US work.
Preserve real staffing facts
Qualifying L spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence. A pending case or informal promise does not establish existing authorized staffing or alter the principal’s past duties.
Separate corporate staffing from the spouse’s immigration position. Describe a replacement as proposed until the foreign organization has approved the appointment, assigned duties, and created reliable records; family relationship alone proves no succession. The principal still needs a continuous qualifying foreign year during the prior three years, a parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship, continued foreign operations and either U.S. operations or compliance with the initial new-office requirements, and a primarily managerial or executive U.S. role. An eligible L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status, but a pending petition or anticipated admission authorizes no U.S. work. Review any new-office one-year milestone and the principal’s seven-year maximum without assuming the spouse’s position changes either. The common error is using a future family appointment to exaggerate delegation.
Hypothetical example: a Magog greenhouse-supply executive expects her husband, currently an independent horticultural consultant, to replace her in Canada during the transfer. Until the company approves his employment, the petition should show the existing reporting structure and label his role as planned. The couple should collect marriage evidence and determine his L-2 documentation, while the company records any later hire honestly. He may work in the United States after obtaining appropriate L-2 status, but his informal promise cannot prove that Canadian operations already have a successor.