Washington: The Joe Biden administration in the United States has agreed to provide automatic work authorisation permits to spouses of H-1B visas holders in an immigration-friendly move that would benefit thousands of Indian-American women.
The Department of Homeland Security reached the settlement in this regard in a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) on behalf of immigrant spouses this summer.
“This (H-4 visa holders) is a group that always met the regulatory test for automatic extension of EADs (employment authorisation documents), but the agency previously prohibited them from that benefit and forced them to wait for reauthorisation. People were suffering. They were losing their high-paying jobs for absolutely no legitimate reason causing harm to them and US businesses,” Jon Wasden from AILA was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
“We are delighted to have reached this agreement, which includes relief for H-4 spouses, through our litigation efforts with Wasden Banias and Steven Brown. It is gratifying that the administration saw that settling the litigation for non-immigrant spouses was something that should be done, and done quickly,” AILA director of federal litigation, Jesse Bless said.
It may be recalled that the Obama administration had allowed work authorisation to H-1B visa holder spouses of certain categories.
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