US LAWMAKERS IN BID TO REVIVE WORK PERMIT FOR H1B SPOUSES

WASHINGTON: More than 30 US lawmakers from both parties have signed a letter circulating around Capitol Hill urging the Trump administration to “reconsider” its decision to rescind a 2015 regulation that allows spouses of certain H-1B visa holders, the bulk of whom are from India, to work.

The Obama-era work authorisation, H-4EAD, has “made our economy stronger, while providing relief and economic support to thousands of spouses—mostly women—who have resided in the United States for years” said the letter initiated by Indian American member of the House of Representatives Pramila Jayapal and colleague Mia Love.

More lawmakers are expected to sign the letter before Wednesday, May 9, when it will be sent to Kristjen Nielsen, secretary of the department of homeland security, which oversees the US Citizenship and Immigration Services , the agency that announced this year that it had decided to rescind the Obama-era programme. In all 33 lawmakers had signed the letter so far, according to a note sent by the initiators to other members seeking their support and signatures.

The aim was “to protect the interest of United States workers in the administration of our immigration system”, USCIS director Francis Cissna told a US senator, quoting from the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order issued by President Donald Trump just weeks after he took office in 2017.

There was no response from the White House to a request for comment to emerging demands to not scrap H-4 EAD, that have found support in multiple quarters and have been endorsed and echoed most importantly by leading American IT companies and their trade bodies. HTC