Washington, DC – 2015 will be the watershed year for spouses of H1-B visa holders as the doors to work in the US are set to open, designed to encourage highly skilled immigrants to stay here according to reliable sources in the Obama administration. In addition, there will be better visa issuance for other categories arriving from India.
In response to a question (Please check the link at the bottom) raised by India America Today in December at the daily State Department press briefing, a State Department official reiterated, “On May 12, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed to amend its regulations by extending the availability of employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of principal H-1B nonimmigrants who have begun the process of seeking lawful permanent resident status through employment.”
“President Obama’s recent announcement will allow certain spouses (on H-4 dependent status) of H1B status holders to work in the United States. Under the current regulations H-4 dependent spouses are not permitted to work,” said Aparna Dave from the Law Office of Aparna Dave.
In a fact sheet to journalists, the White House noted in December, “Spouses of H-1Bs will also be able to receive work authorization if the H-1B holder is on the pathway to obtain a green card.”
On the improvements planned for H-1B visas and their dependent H4 visa holder spouses, the White House said, “Improvements to the H-1B program would allow spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States and increase worker mobility by establishing a 60-day transition period for H-1B workers to change jobs,” noting, “Petitioners from India (64%) and China (7.6%) continue to be the largest users of the H-1B program.The Senate bill would increase the number of available H-1B visas by raising the baseline cap from 65,000 visas to 115,000 visas per year.”
According to sources in the Obama Administration, the Department of Homeland Security is working on the details but the questions that the communities are asking are not only that the dependent spouses had to put their careers on hold for years while in the US, creating financial problems for some highly skilled immigrants residing in areas with a high cost of living but also the social and mental health fallout on themselves.
“The lack of work authorization has created a lot of frustration among the skilled and educated H-4 dependent spouses. A lot of these spouses are highly qualified and have successful careers in their home countries, however once they arrive to the United States these spouses are home bound and feel like prisoners. They become depressed and often times such negative emotions lead to family conflicts,” said Dave, adding, “the lack of work authorization leads to financial hardship for the family.”
Debarati Bhattacharjee, one of such spouses waiting for the work permit nirvana in 2015 told India America Today, “I came across people who have been waiting for 8-10 years for their spouses to get a green card/EAD to start working,” adding that most of them are “Master degree holders with prior working experience working in India. Engineers. IT Professionals, etc.”
Another highly qualified spouse, on condition of anonymity, said: “I have waited for almost 7 years. It takes ages for someone of Indian origin to get an EAD (Employment Authorization Document) through GC (Green Card) application. I have been waiting for an EAD (through my husband) for the last four years. Under current circumstances, there’s a slim chance of it happening in the near future.”
Noting that under the proposed law employment authorization is limited for certain H-4 dependent spouses where the H1B workers are in the latter stage of their green card process, Dave suggested, “I feel that such restrictions should be removed and all H-4 dependent spouses should be allowed to work just like the L2 dependent spouses. The new proposal solves the problem only partially.”
“This is not fair to those H-4 dependents spouses where the H1B worker have not started or reached a certain green card stage. How will our immigration system help these dependents? We urge that such restrictions be removed,” urged Dave.
OTHER VISAS
Asked to comment what the reciprocal efforts the US would be offering after India recently announced and implemented a visas on arrival program granting some citizens, including Americans, 30-day tourist visas at ports of entry, a State Department official told India America Today, “The United States has offered to open a dialogue with the Government of India to make the trusted traveler program, Global Entry, available to Indian citizens. The program enables expedited entry to frequent travelers to significantly reduce wait times for individual travelers. The United States has Global Entry partnerships in place with a very limited number of countries.”
On the visa on arrival, the official said, “The Department of State is unaware of plans to institute a visa on arrival regime for those countries not participating in the Visa Waiver Program, the Mexican and Canadian NAFTA Professional Worker program, or are not a citizen of Canada and Bermuda.”
“US visa policy permits citizens of certain countries to travel to the United States without a visa when they meet certain requirements under US laws,” the State Department official concluded.
Please check after 17 minutes to listen to the questions raised at the State Department daily briefing …
http://video.state.gov/en/video/3926338026001