So, if you plan to accept an offer of employment from a US based company to work in the US, please make sure you investigate all the immigration and work elegibility requirements for your spouse and other family members before you accept the job.
I have a fantastic job so I'm not complaining about that aspect. What I find troubling is the lack of information that is given to foreign nationals who come to this country to work. As long as your employer is sponsoring your work visa, no problem. For you that is. Your spouse is a different story.
There are only two classifications of work visa that automatically qualify your spouse to work in the US as well. One is an L class visa. You get that if you work for a company that transfers you to the US. The other one, I don't remember it's classification because it doesn't apply to me, is for people from Australia. Figure that one out.
At any rate, if you are coming here to work and your spouse is coming with you and expects to find work as well, take note that he/she will not be able to work without some digging and pushing on your part. In short, you have to ask your employer to sponsor your petition for a green card. Only then can your spouse also apply for a green card and obtain work authorization.
We have spent the past 6 months trying to find out how to obtain work authorization for my wife here and finally stumbled on the answer after grilling the immigration officer with question after question. They will only tell you up front that your spouse can or cannot work based on their visa type. They will GIVE you NO answers without you really searching for the right question to ask.
I post this so anybody else experiencing this same situation or about to, will know what they are getting into. My situation is still not solved yet as we are waiting to see if my employer is going to sponsor my application for a green card. I will post the results of that later as well.