H-1B visa holders’ spouses can now work in US

WASHINGTON: It’s been a long wait. Come May 26, Ketaki Desai, a marketing professional, will become president of a Pittsburg start-up she has been advising, and sign her own offer letter.

Starting May 26, US immigration will start accepting work permit applications from holders of H4 visas, spouses of those on H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign workers.

“The inability of those spouses until now to apply for employment, to seek and obtain employment, has imposed in many cases significant hardships on the families of H-1B visa holders,” said Leon Rodriguez, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

More than 179,000 people stand to benefit immediately, over the next year, and between 50,000 and 55,000 in subsequent years. And most of them, an estimated 80%, will be Indians. Desai will be one of them. She came to the US to study in 2002, and upon graduation in 2008 landed in a job market that couldn’t have been in a worse situation. After trying academics and some consulting options, she and her husband returned to India disadvantaged by a immigration system widely considered broken.

Disheartened but not despondent, they returned in 2013, her husband on H-1B and Desai on H4, which didn’t allow her to work for money. She could only volunteer.

Or advise, as she did with a start-up, which makes analytics software, joining its board. PostMay 26, “for all work purposes I will be just like an American”.

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