Decision on H-4 visa ‘in 3 months’

Washington, September 22 

The Trump administration has told a federal court that its decision to revoke work permits to H-4 visa users, a significant majority of whom are Indian-Americans, is expected within the next three months, a move which will have a major impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama era rule.

H-4 visas are issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the holders of H-1B visa, the most sought-after among Indian IT professionals.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its latest court filing on Friday told the US District Court in District of Columbia that it was “making a solid and swift progress in proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B non-immigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation”.

The DHS said the new rule would be submitted to the Office of Management of Budget (OMB), White House, within three months. Till then, the department urged the court to keep in abeyance its decision on a lawsuit filed by “Save Jobs USA”, who claim that their jobs have been hit by such a policy that was promulgated during the Obama administration. — PTI