Do not assume TD permits remote employment. TD does not itself authorize work, and a spouse’s proposed activity needs separate assessment even if the employer or customers are outside the United States. The principal’s technology role does not create a special dependent work entitlement.
Clarify the spouse’s plan before budgeting
Record where the spouse will physically be, whom they expect to work for, and what activities are proposed. Obtain advice about a lawful independent work route if employment is part of the relocation plan. Eligible family members must also address their own application and admission requirements.
Avoid relying on labels such as online work, foreign payroll, or unpaid help as an answer to the authorization question; this guide does not determine whether a particular remote arrangement is permissible. The failure mode is a spouse beginning something that looks informal and is not. Unpaid help with a family business, occasional consulting for a former Canadian employer, or running a personal online shop can each amount to work, and none announces itself as employment.
The earliest signal is a payment arriving, or a client expecting availability during U.S. business hours. Ask the spouse to describe the intended activity in operational terms, meaning what will be done, for whom and on what schedule, and put that description to an adviser before departure rather than after the first invoice.
TD does not itself authorize employment, and the location of the payer does not settle the question.