Status ends for the principal and for the dependants at the same moment, because their status is derived from hers. A spouse in L-2 status is employment-authorized incident to status and can work throughout, but that authorization stops when the principal's classification does, so the household needs a plan well before the fifth year.
One expiry date governs everyone in the house
Families adapt to the arrangement quickly and then forget its shape. The spouse takes a job, children settle into school, and the fact that every one of those permissions rests on Ingrid's classification recedes from view. Two planning points deserve attention early.
If the spouse's employment is intended to continue beyond the assignment, an employer-sponsored route in the spouse's own right takes time to arrange and cannot sensibly be started in the final months. If a child will turn 21 during the posting, dependant eligibility ends on that birthday regardless of where the principal's clock stands, and a student route has its own admission and enrolment timetable. Note also that a move into a managerial or executive classification later does not simply add years; time already spent in L status counts against the applicable maximum.
- USCIS: L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge
- USCIS Policy Manual: L classification, documentation and evidence
- Department of State: 9 FAM 402.12, intracompany transferees
- 8 U.S.C. 1184, admission of nonimmigrants and specialized knowledge placement conditions
- USCIS Policy Manual: employment authorization for certain spouses
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule