Evaluate the household plan before relying on the offer’s salary. A spouse and unmarried children under 21 may qualify for TD, but TD itself does not permit employment. A partner’s anticipated earnings should not be assumed available merely because you are offered a TN position.
Test the offer against household dependencies
Ask when employer health coverage begins, what relocation benefits cover and whether temporary accommodation includes dependants. These are employer benefit questions, not TD entitlements. Record each family member’s citizenship because visa procedures can differ, and obtain relationship records early.
Consider whether you would move together or in stages if an immigration step takes longer than expected. A staged move is a personal planning option; it does not remove the need for each person to have the appropriate status. Sequencing is where households most often lose time.
Dependants generally cannot be processed ahead of the principal, so a spouse’s and child’s arrangements usually follow the principal’s classification rather than running beside it. Build the plan in that order and the dependencies become visible: school enrolment often needs an address, an address often needs a lease, and a lease may need proof of the principal’s employment authorization. Hypothetical example: a graphic designer accepting a role while a partner completes a professional contract at home may find the least disruptive sequence is for the principal to travel first and the family to follow at a term boundary.
Whatever order you choose, confirm that each person will hold an appropriate status for the whole period rather than assuming that a family travelling together is a family lawfully admitted together.