Some months back we brought to you that the Trump government introduced some new in the H4 visa norms, awarded to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, 90% of which are high-skilled female professionals employed in the U.S.
It confirmed then that the Trump govt shall strip off the rights of H4B visa holders, forcing them to leave the country, which was temporarily put on hold later. There have already been a tight watch on the immigration rules across the board, where the number of H1B visas issued to immigrants every year has dramatically dropped down.
The news that has recently come in on Monday, confirms that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has given a time frame until Spring 2020, i.e. between March and June next year to revoke the H-4 employment authorisation document.
H4 Employment to Be Revoked by Spring Next Year
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) told an American court on Monday that as per Trump’s orders, the H4 work visas issued to the spouses of H-1B visa holders shall be confirmatively revoked between March and June next year.
In February 2015, the former president Barack Obama published the eligibility for employment authorisation to H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders, first proposed in 2011. Under this rule, the spouses of H-1B workers on track for green cards were allowed to work, where their high demand skills would be required so that they could live in the country and spur the innovation and growth of U.S. companies at the same time.
Unfortunately, Trump’s advent in the US administration believes in more for American, leading to remove the liberties of H4 visa holders and declaring them as a class of aliens hovering up the employment opportunities that could otherwise be beneficial for Americans.
The Department of Homeland Security confirms that the proposed revoke of such visas remain unchanged and is currently undergoing the inter-agency process. Apparently, a lawsuit was filed by a group of American IT workers, claiming that they were replaced by immigrant engineers, mainly the H-4 visa holders.
How Will This Affect Indian Families and IT Sectors?
The move will have a major impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule. Indian females make up 90% of the 1.2 lakh H4 visas issued since 2015. The Trump government believes that a move of such, shall work in favour of American workers, as they would have a better chance at obtaining jobs that the population of H-4 workers currently hold.
According to Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney at law firm Immigration.com, there is no subtle justification for the government to revoke an entire cadre of highly qualified, highly motivated people from the workforce when unemployment levels are below 4%.
A study by the South Asian American Policy & Research Institute warned that the ability of US companies to attract and retain skilled workers would be impacted if the country revokes the H-4 EAD visa.
The biggest effect this move will reflect is on the Silicon Valley’s tech industries, like Google, Facebook and Apple, as they heavily rely on H1B immigrants. These companies believe that given the high-tech skills required, it is extremely difficult for them to find mass of like-skilled U.S. individuals, reflecting the same high-tech skills.
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