US Court Provides Relief For L2, H4 Immigrant Spouses Looking For Employment Permits

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US Court Provides Relief For L2, H4 Immigrant Spouses Looking For Employment Permits

A court in the US settled for a class-action lawsuit, directing the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to allow up to 180 days auto extension on work authorization for spouses of L-1 and H1B visa holders.

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Spouses of Immigrant workers in America have heaved a sigh of relief after a special verdict delivered by the US court as they no longer need to apply for work authorization. A US court settled for a class-action lawsuit, directing the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to allow up to 180 days auto extension on work authorization for spouses of L-1 and H1B visa holders, as per an Economic Times report. While L-1 spouses of L-2 visa holders will get the extension without applying for it, H4 visa holders will still have to apply for the extension after their employment permit expires.

Problem Faced By Spouses Of Immigrant Workers

H4 employment authorization document (EAD) visa holders, or spouses of H-1B visa holders, were sacked off from their well-paid jobs due to their inability to renew their employment status following the backlog caused by the pandemic. Over 90 per cent of H4 applicants are women. These are have not followed their spouses passively to foreign countries but are highly skilled, well-paid employees who are contributing to the economic boost of the US. However, the stringent legal formalities to renew the employment authorization discourage women from continuing after that and thus leaving for another country.

The Settlement

American immigration lawyers Association (AILA) filed a class-section lawsuit on behalf of immigrant spouses this summer. This (H-4 visa holders) is a group that consistently met the regulatory test for an automatic extension of EADs (employment authorization documents). The litigation successfully achieved the reversal of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy that prohibited H-4 spouses from benefiting from the automatic extension of their employment authorization during the pendency of stand-alone EAD applications. Still, the agency previously banned them from that benefit and forced them to wait for reauthorization. People were suffering. They were losing their high-paying jobs for absolutely no legitimate reason causing harm to them and US businesses," Jon Wasden from AILA said.

Following the settlement, 90,000 Indian-American women who hold H4 visas have received work authorization. These are the highest-paid Indian women who have degrees. Prohibiting the H4 spouses from legal work in America had severe implications for contracting the economy by $7.5 billion. This settlement of automatic authorization of employment will now encourage thousands of talented foreigners to come and stay in the United States, thereby boosting the country's economy.

Also Read: NHRC's Debate On If 'Human Rights Are Stumbling Block' Sparks Social Media Outrage

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