Due to an immigration application backlog, which was worsened by the pandemic’s adverse effects on USCIS and the nearly four-month office closure of Application Support Centers (ASCs) and Field Offices,
Continue Reading Long Delays for Work Permits for L, H, and E Spouses Are Over
Due to an immigration application backlog, which was worsened by the pandemic’s adverse effects on USCIS and the nearly four-month office closure of Application Support Centers (ASCs) and Field Offices,
Continue Reading Long Delays for Work Permits for L-2 and H-4 Spouses Are Over
As an update (to this recent posting), we clarify that USCIS recently indicated in the Fall Unified Agenda the posting of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in November 2018 (see
Continue Reading USCIS Publishes a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Remove Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 VISA Holders
On Feb. 24, 2015 the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule providing for employment authorization for certain H-4 dependent spouses. This is one of the most significant changes to employment-based immigration to occur in many years.
Who is eligible? Only certain H-4 dependents of H-1B nonimmigrants are eligible for employment authorization. The benefit is limited to H-4 dependent spouses (i.e., not children) of H-1B nonimmigrants who are the principal beneficiaries of an approved Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140), or who have been granted H-1B status in the United States under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (AC21), generally by exhausting six years of H-1B eligibility and being the beneficiary of an I-140 which is retrogressed or a labor certification that has been pending with the government for at least one year.
When does the H-4 employment authorization rule take effect? DHS will begin accepting Applications for Employment Authorization (Forms I-765) submitted by eligible H-4 dependent spouses on May 25, 2015.Continue Reading Work Authorization for (Some, But Not All) H-4 Visa Holders