Breaking: Biden administration withdraws Trump’s move to rescind H4 EAD regulation (original) (raw)
The new administration’s move to keep the H4 EAD regulation will save jobs of tens of thousands of H4 EAD holders, a majority of them Indian nationals.
The Biden administration has withdrawn its predecessor’s proposal to rescind an Obama-era regulation that allowed spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States.
The move is expected to save the jobs of tens of thousands of H4 visa holders who are working in the United States after receiving the Employment Authorization Document from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. A majority of H4 EAD holders are Indian nationals.
The proposed rule titled, “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization,†was being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
OIRA, which completed its review on January 25, 2021, said it was withdrawing the proposed rule.
Immigration lawyers and supporters of H4 EAD hailed the new administration’s decision.
“Welcome news for the H-4 EAD community, former President Trump’s long-pending attempt to rescind the H-4 EAD regulation has been withdrawn,†Houston-based immigration attorney Emily Newman tweeted.
The granting of work permits to H4 holders was first proposed in February 2012. The White House proposed guidelines for the EAD more than two years later, in April 2014 and President Obama took the Executive Action in November of that year. The USCIS submitted the final rule for the White House approval in February 2015, and it began receiving the applications from eligible H4 visa holders in May 2015.
However not all H4 holders were allowed to apply for work permit. Only those that are the beneficiaries of an approved Immigration Petition for Immigrant Worker (Form 1-140), or those who are the spouses of H-1B visa holders who have got an extension of their authorized period of admission in the US, beyond the permitted six years were eligible.
The Trump administration’s DHS signaled its intention to end the H4 EAD and submitted the proposed regulation to terminate the work permit for H4 visa holders in February 2019.
“Allowing the spouses of these visa holders to legally work in the United States makes perfect sense,†then USCIS Director León RodrÃguezsaid said, announcing the agency’s decision to give work permits. “It helps U.S. businesses keep their highly skilled workers by increasing the chances these workers will choose to stay in this country during the transition from temporary workers to permanent residents. It also provides more economic stability and better quality of life for the affected families.â€
The granting of work permit to H4 holders was first proposed in February 2012. The White House proposed guidelines for the EAD more than two years later, in April 2014 and President Obama took the Executive Action in November of that year. The USCIS submitted the final rule for the White House approval in February 2015, and it began receiving the applications from eligible H4 visa holders in May 2015.
However not all H4 holders were allowed to apply for work permit. Only those that are the beneficiaries of an approved Immigration Petition for Immigrant Worker (Form 1-140), or those who are the spouses of H-1B visa holders who have got an extension of their authorized period of admission in the US, beyond the permitted six years were eligible.
The H4 EAD decision was fiercely opposed by critics of the H-1B visa program. Save Jobs USA, an advocacy group filed a lawsuit opposing the work permit in April 2015.
The Trump administration had signaled its intention to end the work permit right from the beginning.
The Department of Homeland Security submitted its proposal to terminate H4 EAD to the Office of Management and Budget for review in March 2019. It argued that H4 EAD puts US workers at a disadvantage.
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