Read the general life across the border overview
View Royal families may face a contract renewal, inheritance or marriage during preparation. Each event should be addressed in its proper context rather than assumed to produce automatic immigration permission. The decision that cannot be postponed in an unmarried household is whether to marry before the principal enters, because only a legal spouse and unmarried children under 21 can hold TD status. A common-law partner, however long the relationship, has no derivative route and needs a basis of their own.
Check actual work authorization
TD does not permit employment. Qualifying E and L spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence; children do not receive that spouse permission. A wedding, pending case or proposed staffing role is not itself work authorization.
Review the immigrant relationship
Estate beneficiary status does not establish derivative eligibility. Assess the actual spouse or child relationship, age and CSPA questions where relevant. A marriage-related update follows the applicable process; immigrant-visa derivatives enter with or after the principal.
Reconcile the family charges
Gold Card adds US$1 million plus US$15,000 nonrefundable processing for each eligible included spouse or child, including corporate cases. Do not assume the principal’s payment includes a later spouse for free or guarantees a joint completion date. Eligible children generally must be unmarried and under 21; assess any applicable CSPA protection on the individual case facts.
Hypothetical example: a physiotherapist, a common-law partner and a wedding date
Hypothetical example: a View Royal physiotherapist, a Canadian citizen, accepts a two-year US clinic position under TN; physiotherapist is a listed profession with its own state licensing requirement. She has lived with her partner for six years without marrying. He is a dental hygienist, also a Canadian citizen, and wants to keep working. The household plan assumed he would enter with her. Two facts change it. First, a common-law relationship recognized in British Columbia is not a marriage, so he cannot enter as a TD dependant until a marriage certificate exists; a wedding after her entry is fine, but he would then apply for TD himself at the port of entry with the certificate and proof of her status. Second, dental hygienist is not a listed USMCA profession, so an independent TN is not available to him, and a TD dependant may study but may not work in any capacity. He must therefore choose between a period without employment, a study programme, or a different basis of his own.
Which record settles the derivative question
The marriage certificate and its date settle whether the partner is a spouse; a cohabitation agreement, a joint mortgage or a Canadian common-law declaration does not. The partner's passport settles the procedure: a Canadian citizen may seek TD at the port of entry, while a permanent resident who is a citizen of another country generally needs a consular TD visa first. The Appendix 2 list settles whether the partner has an independent TN, and the answer for a hygienist is no. Decide the wedding date against the start date, and keep both certificates, the employer letter and the licence together for every later entry.
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.