Things couldn’t have gotten worse for spouses of H1-B visa holders — the creme de la creme of Indian immigrants like engineers, doctors, financial professionals and scientists — in the US.
On December 15, just before the holiday season kicked in, the Department of Homeland Security sparked a wave of anxiety among Indian-Americans when it announced that a new law to end work authorisation for dependent spouses, who are on H4 visas, was on the cards. If it goes through, thousands of spouses — many of whom are highly skilled women as well as men from India — could lose their jobs. Those who have received offers now face the bitter possibility of their getting withdrawn even before they could start.