South Asian Working Women Organization in US Lauds Biden's Decision on H4 Visa

By: WE Staff | Friday, 29 January 2021

The South Asian advocacy group, a working women organization in the US, welcomes US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw a Trump-era rule repealing work authorization for H4 visa holders, who are spouses of those possessing H-1B work visas. A majority of these spouses are high-skilled Indian women. The advocacy group also signaled that Biden-Harris administration is committed to supporting immigrant women workers.

An H-4 visa is issues by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders.

As reported in PTI, the Department of Homeland Security earlier this week withdrew its proposal to rescind H4 work authorizations. The Office of Management and Budget and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Monday said that the proposed rule title, Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization, was being withdrawn.

This move will enable over 100,000 H4 EAD (Employment Authorization Document) recipients, the majority of whom are women of color, keep their right to work. This indicates that Biden-Harris administration is committed to support immigrant women workers who play an essential role as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, South Asian American Leading Together (SAALT) said on Thursday. It further said in the statement that despite the news, it continues to hear from community members who have been adversely impacted by significant delays in the processing of H4 work authorization `documents.

SAALT further said that these people must be protected and the Biden administration must unilaterally extend the validity period of all expired H4 EADs and resolve USCIS processing delays. Hopefully, we will see these extensions come with the introduction of the Citizenship Act of 2021 in the coming weeks, it quoted further.

Spouses of Indian professionals on H-1B visas, mostly women, are the biggest beneficiaries of the Obama-era rule that gave employment authorization cards. However, in 2017, the Trump Administration announced its rescind. However, it was not able to complete the process in the four years of its rule. But during the presidential election, the Biden campaign promised to withdraw the Trump administration’s move.

According to a 2018 report by Congressional Research Service (CRS), 93 per cent of approved applications for H-4 employment authorisation were issued to individuals born in India and five per cent were issued to individuals born in China. According to FWD.us, many H-4 visa holders are doctors, scientists and teachers, and are working in crucial industries that are key to the nation's response and economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Research shows that ending H-4 would damage the economy and cost jobs, with no clear benefit to other workers. "Expanding protections for spouses and children of temporary workers will help keep families together and keep the US globally competitive as we rebuild from the pandemic," it added.