Trump administration reconfirms its intent to rescind H4 rule

The Trump administration has re confirmed its intent to rescind H-4 rule regarding employment authorisation to certain spouses of H-1B visas, popular among Indian IT professionals.

The move will have a major impact on Indian-American women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule. "Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorisation," said the Department of Homeland Security's Unified Agenda in the federal register notification of its semi-annual regulatory agenda.

As per the notification published on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment autho- risation. It was in February 2015 that it had published a final rule extending eligibility for employment authorisation to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful per manent resident (LPR) status.

The federal register notification said that the notice of proposed rulemaking or NPRM would be published in June.

However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) insisted that "No decision about H4 visas is final until" the rulemaking process is completed. USCIS will alert the public when the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) has been posted for public comment.

An NPRM is posted for public comment and after comments have been considered USCIS will post the final rule, a USCIS official told PTI requesting anonymity.