TD status does not authorize employment with that employer or any other.
Consider the spouse’s own basis for work
A recruiting connection through the principal does not extend TN permission. Review any independent route and the actual duties before relying on the opportunity as household income. TD dependants may study, but they may not work.
Document the spouse's intended remote work in detail and confirm whether a separate work authorization route applies, rather than assuming a Canadian client relationship is irrelevant. If the self-employment question is unresolved, avoid finalizing dependent travel, schooling, or housing plans around this offer until the employment structure is confirmed as qualifying. The TD category exists to keep families together; it does not carry work authorization, and the question of whether an activity is employment is answered by what the person does, not by where the employer is incorporated or which bank pays the salary. A spouse admitted in TD may remain for the same period as the principal, may enrol in school or university, and may travel in and out of the country, but may not be employed, paid or self-employed anywhere in the United States. Whether operating a Canadian business remotely while physically present in TD status counts as prohibited employment is not clearly settled, and the safe assumption is that it may be treated as work.