H4 Visa Holders Could Lose Work Permit Soon: Report

H4 visa holders can lose their employment authorization as soon as this month, according to a report in McClatchy. The employment authorization document (EAD) to H4 visa holders gives employment to spouses of H-1B visa holders.

The cancellation of the work permit for H4 visa holders effects mostly Indian and Chinese women, who are also skilled workers and have secured work in various fields. Families wait tensely for the decision, which seems not far off, of the administration regarding the same.

Tech companies, individuals and communities have rallied against the administration’s anti-immigrant decision. However, the number of people with EAD on H4 visa is seemingly small, hardly 3 per cent of the entire immigrant worker population in the United States. In fiscal year 2016, only 41,526 people were on H4 visas while the entire foreign workers population stood at 1.268 million, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The H4 visa is also subject to litigation after a non-profit group “Save Jobs USA” questioned the legality behind the unilateral approval given to the H4 by former president Barack Obama.

“It’s supposed to be a guest worker program, but your wife can work anywhere? It’s completely nonsensical,” John Miano, an attorney who represents Save Jobs USA, was quoted as saying by McClatchy.

The Trump administration, which has taken a hardline against immigration, has indicated that while they are willing to go forward with another program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act (DACA), they want to stop the H4 EAD.

In accordance with Trump’s executive order in April 2017 for “Buy American and Hire American” the Department of Homeland Security said later in 2017 that the H4 EAD would be scrapped.

The order tells agencies to “protect the interests of United States workers in the administration of our immigration system, including through the prevention of fraud or abuse.”

“The agency is considering a number of policy and regulatory changes” to carry out the executive order “including a thorough review of employment based visa programs. No decision about H4 visas is final until the rulemaking process is completed,” said Joanne Talbot, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security, according to McClatchy.