Yes. A spouse admitted in L-2 status is employment-authorized incident to status and may work for any employer without a separate application; children in L-2 status may study but may not work.
L-2 spouses work; L-2 children study
The spouse and unmarried children under 21 of an L-1 transferee are admitted in L-2 status for the same period as the principal. Since USCIS updated its policy on dependent spouses, an L-2 spouse is considered employment-authorized incident to status, meaning the authorization flows from the status itself; the spouse’s admission record annotated as an L-2 spouse serves as evidence of that authorization for employers, although some spouses still apply for an employment authorization document for convenience. In the hypothetical, the manager’s husband is a self-employed heating technician in Val-des-Monts; in L-2 status he could take employment with a U.S. contractor or start his own U.S. business, subject to state licensing. Their 16-year-old son may attend school but cannot take a part-time job. The son ages out of L-2 at 21 and would then need his own status, for example as a student. Canadian citizen dependants do not need an L-2 visa stamp; a dependant of another nationality does.
Plan the family’s travel only after the principal’s requested validity period is known, then check every passport and civil record for matching names. The admission record is the practical item an employer or school may ask to see after entry. Hypothetical example: the director of a refrigeration-parts distributor moves first while her spouse has a pending job offer. They should carry the marriage record, the approval notice and copies of the principal’s status documents; a missing civil document can delay the dependant’s admission even when the transfer itself is approved.