Immigration Reform Seekers Push for Congress to let H-4 Work

Back in May of this year, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposal to attract and retain highly skilled immigrants, which included extending employment authorization to certain spouses of H-1B holders, known as H-4 holders. Please refer to our previous article addressing this issue at DHS Details Proposed Rules for H-4 Employment Authorization, for reference.

Under current regulations, H-4 spouses are not employment authorized. However, like their counterparts, many H-4 spouses are also highly skilled and fully capable of contributing to both their families and the US economy. Therefore, many immigration reformers, including H-4 holders are pushing Congress to allow spouses of H-1B holders to work in the US, while here as a nonimmigrant.

There are several arguments being presented to support this cause. For one, the H-4 spouses (which are mainly women) argue that in a country of 310 million, the spouses of the 85,000 (yearly) allowed H-1B visa holders, will not be a threat to jobs for American-born workers. They also suggest that allowing the spouses to work, as long as the H-1B holder has begun the permanent residency process, encourages the H-1B holder to remain in the US and raise their family, thus contributing to the US economy. The contribution to the US economy would also be reflective of the country’s self-interest in this regard. In fact, in their proposal to change the rules, the DHS has acknowledge that allowing H-4 spouses to work will help attract new businesses and new investment to the U.S. and ensure that the U.S. has the most skilled workforce in the world, thus significantly benefitting the nation’s economy. Supporters of this reform also point out that this change in the rules would show compassion and humanity, as it is only fair to allow H-1B spouses to work, just as the spouses of L-1 intracompany transfer visa holders and E-1/E-2 treaty traders and investors, have employment authorization.

In order to gain momentum for their cause, those calling for a change have taken on political activism, blogging and posting on social media, among other word-of-mouth methods, hoping for an ultimately favorable decision by Congress. The proposed rules have not been mandated as of yet, but we at Sharma Law will continue to monitor the progress and bring you the latest news available.