Read the general life across the border overview
Hypothetical example: the Lachance-Okonkwo household is moving because one spouse, an accountant, has a TN offer from an American firm. The other spouse is a graphic designer who intends to keep working. Their nineteen-year-old is starting a degree and their twelve-year-old will change schools. The assumption that the principal's admission carries everybody else is where households of this shape come unstuck, because two of these four people need something of their own.
What the dependent status permits, and what it forbids
TD status is available to the spouse and to unmarried children under twenty-one, and it authorizes residence and study but no employment whatsoever. The prohibition covers taking an American job, freelancing for American clients, and continuing to work remotely for a Canadian employer from inside the country, which is the version households most often misjudge. It is a narrower rule than the dependent statuses attached to the transfer and investment categories, where a spouse is employment-authorized incident to status and may work for anyone. Measuring the household's needs against the dependent rule belongs at the start of planning, not after somebody has resigned a job.
The designer's own route is a separate application, not an upgrade
Graphic Designer appears in the schedule of listed professions with its own credential rule, so the second spouse may well be eligible in her own right. That is a distinct application carrying its own requirements: her own prearranged employment with an American employer, her own qualifications matched to that entry, and her own admission. It does not follow from her spouse's approval and is not handed over at the same counter as a courtesy. Working as a self-employed designer in the United States falls outside the category, so an arrangement in which she invoices American clients through her own business would fail however well her credentials fit.
One child inside the household, one already outside it
The twelve-year-old may accompany the family in dependent status and enrol in school, with the district asking for ordinary residency and immunization records rather than anything immigration-related. The nineteen-year-old is a different question in two respects. She loses dependent eligibility at twenty-one, a date that falls inside the length of a first admission, and a degree programme requires a student status of its own arranged through a certified school rather than a dependent one. Citizenship should also be recorded person by person rather than as a household fact, because a family member holding Canadian permanent residence rather than citizenship cannot use this route at all and needs a different plan.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.