In simplifying the employment process for the immigrants, the Joe Biden administration has allowed providing automatic work permits to the spouses of the H-1B visa holders. The move makes the employment process simpler especially for Indian-American women as a large chunk of H1-B visa holders are Indian IT professionals.
A US court directed the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to allow an auto extension up to 180 days on work authorisation for spouses of H1-B and L-1 visa holders.
How will affect the work-authorization permits for visa holders?
Spouses of L-1 visa holders:
The L-1 visa is a type of work visa for a relatively short amount of time. The visa is issued by the US to professionals looking for work in the country. The dependent spouses and unmarried children below 21 years of age of L-1 visa holders gets L-2 visa. This is a non-immigrant visa and its validation depends upon the duration of the spouse’s L-1 visa.
After the direction by the US court, the L-2 visa holders will get an automatic extension of 180 days or I-94 expiration date – whichever is sooner. The extension will be allowed to the spouses without applying for it.
Spouses of H-1B visa holders:
The H-1B visa is an employment-based non-immigrant visa for temporary workers looking to join an American company. The dependent spouses and unmarried children below 21 years of age of H-1B visa holders get H-4 visas.
They will get automatic extensions of their H-4 employment authorisation document (EAD) till their I-94s expire or 180 days from the expiration of the prior EAD, whichever is shorter. The H-4 visa holder will still have to apply for the extension once their employment permit expires, unlike the L-2 visa holder.
However, the process for the application to get the auto extension on H-4 visas will be complicated and take more time, informed the immigration support group.
Certain categories of H-4 visa holders got the work authorisation by the Obama administration. As of now, a significant number of Indian-American women have received work authorisation.
