Bad news for H-1B Visa holders! The spouses of H-1B Visa holders will probably not be authorized to work anymore, as suggested to the White House. The White House has formally received the proposed changes in the current rules and regulations, in which it has
been mentioned that the work authorization for the spouses of H-1B holders will be ended.
been mentioned that the work authorization for the spouses of H-1B holders will be ended.
This will affect as much as 90,000 or more spouses of H-1B Visa holders! Read on to know all about this new change.
H1-B Visa and Visa Holders
H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa which enables companies of the United States to hire foreigners as employees, especially for the fields which require theoretical or technical skills. India and China are the two countries which are at the top where international hiring is concerned by the US.
As of October 5, there are 419,637 foreign nationals working in the US on H-1B visas, out of which, 309,986 were Indians.
The Official Process
The final decision belongs to the White House, and then a final regulation will be issued and the Department of the Homeland Security can inform a federal court. In the federal court, there is a pending lawsuit on this issue. Also, the White House will probably take up advice and consult various agencies to gain their opinions.
Once the White House agrees to this, the regulation will be published with a 30 day period for commenting. After this, the new changes will be put in place.
As per Jessica Collins’ statement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is “reviewing all employment-based visa programs, including H-4 EADs. No decision about the regulation concerning the employment eligibility of certain H-4 spouses is final until the rulemaking process is complete.” Jessica Collins is the spokesperson for USCIS.
She also said that the administration has been “relentlessly pursuing” merit-based policy and regulatory immigration reforms, which also include an end to end review of the employment-based visa programmes. This will be carried out solely to seek benefit for the public of America.
Is this an Anti-Women Decision?
While a group of US lawmakers, which includes Senator Kamala Harris, and the Silicon Valley companies are opposing this, the Trump administration is not budging from its intentions.
The opposition feels that this regulation is anti-women and holds back talented spouses of H-1B visa holders from working in the country and thus hamper productivity.
