93% of US H4 visa from India

TRENDS About 93% of granted H4 visa applications for employment authorization were issued to women

WASHINGTON: A staggering 93% of the total H-4 visa holders in the US having work authorization are from India, a latest Congressional report on the spouse visa has said. Over one-fifth of the H-4 visa holders with work authorization live in California, it said.

About 93% of granted applications for employment authorization were issued to women and 7% to men, according to the report on H-4 visas by the independent Congressional Research Service of the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports on issues of interest to US lawmakers.

“Ninety-three per cent of approved applications for H-4 employment authorization were issued to individuals born in India, and five per cent were issued to individuals born in China. Individuals born in all other countries combined make up the remaining two per cent of approved applications,” CRS said in its nine-page report.

As of 25 December 2017, US Citizenship and Immigration Services had approved 126,853 applications for employment authorization for H-4 visa holders.

These count all approvals since May 2015 when the rule was implemented. This number includes 90,946 initial approvals, 35,219 renewals, and 688 replacements for lost cards. H-4 visa holders are not geographically constrained by law, and approvals for employment authorization documents have been issued to H-4 non-immigrants living in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the US territories. California accounts for more than one-fifth (28,033), and Texas and New Jersey together account for another 20%. Before 2015, H-4 visa holders were not eligible for work authorization. As the visa queue increased for individuals in particular those from India and China awaiting employmentbased legal permanent resident (LPR) status, policymakers and others raised concerns about the lack of employment authorization for spouses hindering the US’S ability to attract and retain highly educated workers.

In 2015, the US Federal Register issued a notice establishing work authorisation for certain H-4 spouses referred to three anticipated benefits: reducing personal and financial burdens on H-1B and H-4 non-immigrants, reducing disruption to the US businesses and attracting and retaining highly-skilled workers.

The previous Obama administration argued that allowing H-4 spouses to work would support the US economy because H-1B non-immigrants and their spouses have historically made significant contributions to entrepreneurship and research and development.

Finally, this rule may facilitate attracting and retaining highly skilled workers by bringing US immigration policies more in line with those of other countries that compete for similarly skilled workers, it said.

Unlike work authorization for H-1B visa holders, employment authorization that is granted based on H-4 status is not restricted to a specific employer and does not require t he employer to get approval from the US Department of Labour. H-4 work authorization also does not prohibit self-employment, starting a business, or hiring employees. However, under its America First policy, the Donald Trump administration is proposing to remove from regulation H-4 spouses of H-1B non-immigrants as a class of foreign nationals eligible for employment authorization. The result would be that H-4 visa holders would not have authorization to work in the US.

The administration anticipates publishing the proposed rule in the Federal Register in June 2018, which would be followed by a public comment period before a final rule would be published, CRS said.

While H-4 EADS have been issued to residents of almost 4,000 cities across the US, CRS said the cities with the highest numbers are around large “tech hubs” such as the Silicon Valley, northern New Jersey, Seattle, DallasFort Worth, Houston, Austin, the Washington, DC, region and Atlanta. CRS said Congress has considered several related pieces of legislation. The Immigration Innovation Act of 2018 (S.2344), as introduced in the 115th Congress, would codify the current regulation providing work authorization to H-4 spouses of certain H-1B non-immigrants and would require the employer of the H-4 spouse to attest that they will pay her or him the greater of the prevailing wage for that occupation in the area of employment or the actual wage paid to other workers in the same job with similar qualifications (i.e., applying the same pay standard to the hiring of H-4 visa holders as is applied to their H-1B spouses).