Trump to rescind H4 rule on H1B visa holders' spouses

Washington DC: The Trump administration in the United States has reconfirmed its intent to rescind the H-4 visa rule on employment authorisation to certain spouses of H-1B visa holders, a proposal that could hit tens of thousands of Indian women in the US.

The Trump administration is currently reviewing the H-1B visa policy that it thinks is being misused by companies to replace American workers. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations.

The work visa is popular among Indian IT professionals. H-4 visas are issued to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.

"Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorisation," said the Department of Homeland Security's Unified Agenda in the federal register notification of its semi-annual regulatory agenda.

The move will have a major impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule.

As per the notification published on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation.

It was in February 2015 that it had published a final rule extending eligibility for employment authorisation to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident (LPR) status. The federal register notification said that the notice of the proposed rulemaking would be published this month. PTI