Spouses Of H1B Visa Holders Will Get Automatic Job Permits To Work In America! Thousands Of Indians Will Benefit (But How?)

Spouses of the non-immigrant H-1B visa holders, the H-4 visa holder group, in a revolutionary move have now been allowed to receive automatic work authorisation permits, another one of the Biden administration’s immigration-friendly move, which is bound to benefit thousands of Indian-American spouses of H-1B visa holders.

What Was the Problem?

According to a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy, the H-4 visa holders were prohibited from taking the regulatory test for automatic extension of their Employment Authorisation Documents, or EADs and were forced to wait for reauthorisation, which was creating a major problem not just for these non immigrant visa holders but also American businesses.

Due to delays faced in reauthorisation and thereby, the extension of EADs, the H-4 visa holders were losing their high-paying jobs for absolutely no legitimate reason, directly affecting the businesses of American companies.

“This (H-4 visa holders) is a group that always met the regulatory test for automatic extension of EADs (employment authorisation documents), but the agency previously prohibited them from that benefit and forced them to wait for reauthorisation. People were suffering,” states the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Biden Admin will Provide Automatic Work Authorisation

In a positive move towards immigration, the Biden administration has given the green signal on providing automatic work authorisation permits to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, who come under the US visa category of H-4.

The association AILA filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of H-4 visa holders this summer, which was settled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The litigation did away with the USCIS policy which prohibited the immigrant spouses of H-1B visa holders from automatically extending their employment authorization, while their stand-alone EAD applications were pending.

“Although this is a giant achievement, the parties’ agreement will further result in a massive change in position for the USCIS, which now recognises that L-2 spouses enjoy automatic work authorisation incident to status, meaning these spouses of executive and managers will no longer have to apply for employment authorisation prior to working in the United States,” added AILA.