The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables US providers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that need theoretical or technical knowledge. The technologies providers rely on it to employ tens of thousands of workers every year from nations like India and China.
The H4 visa is ordinarily issued to these who have currently began the approach of searching for employment-based lawful permanent resident status in the US.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on Monday stated the proposed rule titled, “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorisation,” was getting withdrawn.
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Spouses of Indian specialists on H-1B visas, mainly females, are the greatest beneficiary of the Obama-era rule that gave employment authorisation cards.
Soon just after coming to energy, the Trump administration in 2017 announced that it would rescind that rule. However, the Republican Party-led Trump administration was not capable to total the approach in the 4 year of its rule. During the presidential election, the Biden campaign had promised to withdraw the Trump administration”s move.
Soon just after his electoral victory, a group of 60 members of the US House of Representatives in a letter urged Biden, a Democrat, to “unilaterally extend” the expiration work authorisation documents for holders of H4 visas.
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“We respectfully request that the Department of Homeland Security publish a Federal Register notice on day one of your administration that would extend the validity period of all expired H4 EADs (Employment Authorisation Document),” the members of Congress wrote to Biden in a letter on December 16.
In 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a rule permitting particular H4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders to legally seek employment in the US, the letter stated.
This rule presented an vital step towards rectifying gender disparities in our immigration method, as about 95 per cent of H4 visa holders who have secured work authorisations are females.
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As of December 2017, USCIS had authorized 1,26,853 applications for employment authorisation for H-4 visa holders. According to a 2018 report by Congressional Research Service (CRS) 93 per cent of authorized applications for H-4 employment authorisation have been issued to men and women born in India, and 5 per cent have been issued to men and women born in China.