Working for a foreign team does not itself settle permission to perform the work from the United States.
Assess the actual location and spouse status
Qualifying L spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence; children do not receive those spouse rights. Review the actual activity rather than assume foreign payroll makes immigration work permission irrelevant.
Analyze the spouse’s status separately from the principal’s job description. An L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to valid status, with the appropriate status evidence; an L-2 child does not receive the same employment permission. Work performed while physically in the United States can require authorization even when the employer, payroll, colleagues, and computer systems remain abroad. Confirm the spouse’s admission classification and validity dates before starting, and distinguish preparatory personal activity from productive services. Meanwhile, the principal still needs a qualifying related organization, one continuous year of qualifying foreign employment in the prior three years, and a US role that is primarily managerial or executive. L-1A time is capped at seven years. A frequent family mistake is assuming that foreign-source wages take the activity outside US immigration rules.
Hypothetical example: The finance director of a modular-home producer near Sainte-Rose-du-Nord plans an L-1A transfer. His spouse wants to continue approving invoices for a Canadian design team from their US residence. She waits until admission in an L-2 spouse classification is properly documented, while their teenage child does not take on paid reconciliation work.