A user account does not provide US employment authorization.
Check the spouse’s actual status
Qualifying L spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence. A pending case, password or unpaid task does not automatically authorize the proposed work.
Audit the spouse’s proposed system activity before granting credentials: list tasks, recipients, supervision, expected output, location, and compensation. A password never confers immigration permission. Employment authorization attaches incident to qualifying L-2 spousal status for work performed in the United States, but the principal’s pending petition or anticipated travel cannot support early services performed while the spouse is in the United States. The principal separately needs a complete, uninterrupted qualifying year overseas during the relevant three-year window, properly related organizations, and company-specific special or advanced knowledge tied to the American assignment. If work occurs at a customer site, petitioner control must remain real and the arrangement cannot be labour-for-hire. A new office initially receives one year. Track the principal’s five-year L-1B limit; a spouse’s authorization does not extend it.
Hypothetical example: a Magog heat-pump manufacturer plans to transfer a technician who understands its proprietary diagnostic sequence. His wife, a bookkeeper, is offered remote access to reconcile invoices for the U.S. affiliate before departure. If she will perform that work while physically in Canada, U.S. L-2 employment authorization is not required merely because the affiliate is American; the company should separately address Canadian employment, tax, and other applicable law. If she will perform the duties after entering the United States, she should decline them until she has qualifying L-2 spousal status and appropriate employment-authorization evidence. Her future authorization cannot substitute for proof of his specialized knowledge, foreign service, or the corporate relationship.