Not as a TD dependant: TD status permits study but not employment of any kind, including contract or seasonal work. He would need his own classification, and equipment operation is not a listed USMCA profession.
A dependant’s permission is not borrowed from the principal
TD is available to the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one of a TN professional, and it allows them to live in the United States and to enrol in school. It does not authorize work, and there is no employment document a TD dependant can apply for. Running a machine for a U.S.
logging contractor, even on short jobs, would be unauthorized employment and could jeopardize both his status and hers. Ask instead whether he has any route of his own: a listed profession with the required credential, a transfer through a company he has worked for abroad, or an investment he would develop and direct. Heavy-equipment operation does not appear in Appendix 2, so TN is not available for that work regardless of experience.
If none apply, the honest plan is that he does not work in the United States during her assignment, and the household budget is built on one income. A first review produces a household activity list for every dependant, including remote work, unpaid help, study, and any licensing steps. Hypothetical example: a TN mathematician’s partner plans to sell handmade violins online after moving.
The deciding record is the planned sales activity and where it is performed; TD does not permit that work from inside the country. Sequence the household budget before departure, then assess an independent status only if its legal requirements can be documented.