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APPLICATION ANSWERS · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Does the employer's relocation package settle an L-1A family's immigration arrangements?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Travel benefits and housing support are commercial arrangements; eligible family members still need their own status and documentation assessed.

Separate the benefit from the permission

Record who the package covers and what each person plans to do. A qualifying L-2 spouse has employment authorization incident to status, but the spouse's evidence still matters. A child does not gain that permission merely because the same moving benefit covers them.

Treat relocation benefits as logistics, then prepare immigration evidence person by person. Confirm the principal’s petition, list dependants, and collect passports plus civil records. L-2 spouses are employment-authorized incident to status, so the spouse should preserve appropriate status evidence for employment verification; a relocation vendor’s work-benefit summary is not that evidence. Sequence travel, housing, school, and job plans around actual status milestones. The common mistake is assuming everyone covered by flights and temporary housing has identical work rights or documentation. The principal’s L-1A case must independently satisfy its qualifying relationship, foreign-employment, and managerial or executive requirements.

Hypothetical example: A London cybersecurity-firm executive receives moving expenses for a spouse and teenage child. The spouse, a pharmacist, wants to accept employment soon after arrival. The family obtains marriage and birth certificates, reviews the principal’s approval and travel sequence, and plans for the spouse to document L-2S admission before completing employment verification. The child’s inclusion in the package supports travel planning, not adult employment authority. The benefit remains separate from every person’s legal position.