IT industry urges US to keep work permits for H-1B spouses

WASHINGTON: US technology business groups representing Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google have recommended the Trump administration to retain an Obama-era rule that allows some spouses of H-1B visa holders, including Indians, to additionally paintings legally in America.
Groups including the Information Technology Industry Council, the US Chamber of Commerce and BSA-The Software Alliance wrote to Citizenship and Immigration Services to urge the federal government to stay the H-4 programme which allows the spouses of H-1B holders with pending green playing cards to legally paintings in the US.

The Trump Administration is reportedly transferring ahead with its determination to not give paintings permits to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, arguing that this displaces genuine American workers.

"As the Trump Administration conducts its review of the H-4 rule, we respectfully encourage you and your colleagues to maintain the program given its importance to the business community and to the American economy," stated the lobbying and advocacy groups and business our bodies.

The letter addressed to Lee Francis Cissna, Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, stated: "It is a function of the failure to reform our nation's immigration system that this group of H-4 spouses -- the majority of whom are women -- continue to face uncertainty and may be prevented from working while they wait for bureaucratic backlogs to be cleared."

The Obama period H-4 rule extends employment authorisation eligibility for a limited subset of H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrant workers searching for employment-based lawful permanent resident (LPR) status or Green card.

The rule had helped thousands of Indians.

The H-1B programme gives transient US visas that let corporations to hire highly skilled international execs working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers. This paintings visa is extremely popular amongst Indian IT execs.

According to the letter, the H-4 rule has limited pointless disruptions to businesses by way of ameliorating economic and personal hardships--resulting from the loss of spousal paintings authorisation--previously faced by way of many H-1B workers and their families as they obtain LPR status.

As of October 2017, the USCIS reported that there are an estimated 133,502 people with pending employment-based adjustment of status programs within the United States.

"The present demand for visas beneath positive employment- founded desire classes and the application of the per- nation quotas these days produce wait instances of a decade or extra for positive people and their families.


"Ultimately, a legislative solution is required to take away the per-country limits that experience caused this green card backlog," the letter stated.


In the intervening time, H-4 visa holders from oversubscribed nations would wait years to paintings with out the H-4 rule, the letter stated and warned that employers would additionally face an higher possibility that their valued, long-term workers will make a choice to go away their corporations for different employment opportunities in nations that let these workers and their families to raise their way of life.


"This is not going to best force businesses to incur added costs and undergo the disruptions associated with having to fill these key positions of their corporations, however it additionally creates uncertainty that negatively impacts long-term workforce planning," the letter stated.


A 2015 rule issued by way of the Obama administration allows paintings permits for spouses who differently couldn't be hired while H-1B visa holders search permanent resident status -- a process that can take a decade or longer.
IT industry urges US to keep work permits for H-1B spouses IT industry urges US to keep work permits for H-1B spouses Reviewed by Kailash on January 20, 2018 Rating: 5
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