The United States has finally decided to provide automatic work authorisation permits to the spouses of H-1B and L1 visa holders. The decision is considered a blessing to thousands of Indian-Americans.
The Department of Homeland Security has reached the settlement following an Immigration Lawyers’ Association filed a class-action lawsuit for immigrant spouses. This resulted in the reversal of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy prohibiting H-4 spouses from benefiting from the automatic extension of their employment authorisation during the pendency of stand-alone EAD applications.
According to an Economic Times report, L-1 spouses or L-2 visa holders will get the extension without applying for it, H4 visa holders or spouses of H-1B visa holders will still have to apply for the extension after their employment permit expires.
“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. They were losing their high-paying jobs for absolutely no legitimate reason causing harm to them and US businesses,” said Jon Wasden from the association.
“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,” the association said.
L-1 visas are granted for those on intra-company transfers. H-1B visas allow US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The immediate family members of such workers are granted H4 visas. More than 90% of H4 visa candidates are Indian women, said an Economic Times Report.
As directed by the court, “L-2s filing for extension of work permits will now get 180 day auto extension of their work authorizations (or the I-94 expiration date, whichever is shorter). Further, H4 visa holders will get automatic extensions of their H-4 EADs until the expiration of their I-94s or 180 days from the expiration of the prior EAD, whichever is sooner.”
“USCIS will issue policy guidance that states L-2 spouses are employment authorised, incident to status, and in cooperation with CBP, change the Form I-94, within 120 days of effective date, to indicate the bearer is an L-2 spouse,” the court stated.
