DHS Extends Eligibility for Employment to Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses

Good news but won't apply to a lot of H4 visa holders.

It's only applicable to those folks who have been on H1B over 6 years OR have an approved I-140.

For those who don't know, employment based green card has three stages

1. Labor Certification (PERM)

2. Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker - I-140 - This stage checks whether the company filing your petition is legitimate and there is no fraud.

3. Application to register permanent residence - I-485. This stage checks whether the person applying has a good character, is not criminal etc. etc.

Getting through 1st and 2nd stage takes 1 to 3 years. It's the 3rd stage which has a long wait, mainly for people from India or China.

See: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy...

As per that link, USCIS is processing cases of folks who applied in 2007 (for EB2) and 2004 (for EB3).

This is definitely a huge relief for those folks who have decided to apply for permanent residency and have been stuck in stage 3 for many years.

P.S.: I know about this because I am from India and went through a grueling 10 year immigration process to get my green card.

This is huge. I have considered the H1b route in the past, but ended up deciding against it, as I didn't want my wife (who would not have been eligible for an H1b herself at the time) to become an "H4 housewife" (look that up if you don't know what that means).

Good step, but still majority of H4 holders will have to wait at least 1-3 years to get PERM and I-140 approved.

Unfortunately, immigration situation for foreign ambitious married couple is really harsh in recent years. Even if both qualified for H1B than you still have 50% chance in lottery just to process your application... 25% chance that both of them can work.

While there, getting job visa sponsorship on H4 can also be hard. Even junior software engineers in Bay Area who can get job easily, get mysterious rejections at very end of process or honest reply "sorry we would hire you, but waiting several months to apply in April and get you work in October with 50% chance and lot of fees is not a good deal. You're good, but not that great. We can't afford to wait".

I know several stories of people who left USA for good, b/c of that reasons. Their offers/positions where quite generous at top tech companies/startups.

Bay Area is the best ecosystem, but maybe with immigration and property market situation it just reached the peak and it wouldn't get any better?

I'm currently doing my PhD in Canada, and here, spouses of the above categories automatically get open work permits for as long as the student/work permit of the principal applicant. Heading towards the job market, there are lot's of opportunities in the US, both within academia and industry, but the fact that my wife would not be able to work is a huge deterrent for us. Add to that, my wife is not in an industry where she would be likely to get a company sponsoring her for an independent work permit.

I have H1B visa 7th year now got ext. beyond 6 years based on AC 21, but my previous employer withdraw my I-140 . Can I still file H4EAD for my wife as I extended my H1B beyond 6 years based on AC21?

This is really good news for a lot of folks who were unable to work previously due to the H4 restriction even with years of experience behind them.

I am on H4 and my husband is here in USA for 6.8 years.But we are in of our first stage of Labor certification. So can I still apply for H1B?

*Only those with an I-140 approved (already in the green card process) or other conditions. That's still a good step.

Wonder how long it's going to take for the application to be approved once it's submitted. Also, what restrictions are going to be present with working on the EAD? Is it unrestricted? STEM only? Will the same rules apply as if the EAD was received by the spouse after an approved I-485?

This is good news indeed. I moved back to India 1.5 years ago because my wife could not work there. Not sad I moved back, but yes, a lot of people would be really really happy today.

Does this apply even if the spouse has their own independent H1? And they are the primary beneficiary of their husbands I 140?

Does this law also permit H1B employees with i140 Approval to apply for EAD or is it just the spouse?

This thought has been lingering since this ruling was sent to the OMB for approval. How will it affect existing H1/other wages? As the OP says, DHS is expecting 180k ead applications this year. Thats a large pool of qualified folks with potentially prior work experience. Thoughts?

Is there a chance that a later president might revoke this?

The title here is misleading. It should say "DHS extends Eligibility for EAD of certain H4 Visa Holders."

Don't want to hurt all the folks whom this will immensely help. But isn't this going to kill a lot of low cost permanent jobs here in US.

So currently we are still debating on whether we want to raise the H1 cap because that will encourage body shops and more cheap labour but isn't this going to take away the low paying US jobs as well.

So say there are 65,000 ppl coming into US on H1 every year, 40,000 of these say apply for green card and on an average say it takes 8 years to get green card and 2 years to get I-140. So every year now well be making 40,000 more ppl eligible and when we start we already will have a surplus of 40,000 * 6

Plus if I am not wrong with H1 you atleast have to prove that you cannot find someone who can do this job and that's why you are bringing someone from outside. But with this you are basically making ppl with any qualification eligible for a job.

I personally would have liked the govt to hike the H1 to ensure that the students who study here won't have to leave because of the lack of enough number of visa's.