H-1B visaholders' spouses may not get to work in US: Top 10 developments

Trump administration's move to end work authorisation for H4 visaholders will have a devastating impact on tens of thousands of Indians

Soon, the spouses of H-1B visa holders might not be allowed to work legally in the US. A top federal agency official has told lawmakers that the Trump administration is planning to put an end to the Obama-era rule. The move would have a devastating impact on tens of thousands of Indians – the US has issued employment authorisation documents to more than 71,000 H-1B visaholders' spouses, over 90 per cent of whom are Indians. "Our plans include proposing regulatory changes to remove H-4 dependent spouses from the class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation," said the official. H-4 visas are issued to spouses of H-1B visa holders.

The move comes at a time when, according to a top Silicon Valley newspaper, Indian IT companies that were major beneficiaries of the H-1B programme, have dramatically reduced their H-1B visa filings. San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board has said applicants for the H-1B visa programme are anticipating the hardest process in many years.

In 2015, the Obama administration issued a rule allowing work permits for H-1B visaholders' spouses, who otherwise could not be employed while H-1B visaholders sought permanent resident status – a process that could take a decade or longer. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Francis Cissna has said that the Trump administration will be "reversing the 2015 final rule that granted such an eligibility".

Here are the top 10 developments around Trump administration's move to end work authorisation for spouses of H-1B visaholders:

1) H-1B visaholders' spouses to lose work authorisation: The USCIS director has told lawmakers that the Trump administration is planning to end allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders from working legally in the US. The move to end the Obama-era rule would have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders with work permits.

2) When will the work authorisation for H-1B visaholders' spouses be done away with? No concrete date is available as of now. However, the USCIS director's letter provides an estimate. A formal communication is expected to be made later this summer, according to USCIS Director Cissna’s letter to Senator Chuck Grassley.

ALSO READ: Trump admin plans to end work permits for H-1B visa spouses

3) Work authorisation rule being removed from June this year? There is some information indicating the work authorisation rule will be removed in June or after. In March this year, the Trump administration had delayed its decision on the termination of work authorisation for spouses of H-1B visaholders, in what was a big relief to a significantly large number of Indian workers and their families.

At that time, in a court submission, the Department of Homeland Security had said that it would not take a decision on terminating the work authorisation of H4 visa users, spouses of H-1B visaholders, until June, as it needed time to review the economic impact of such a decision.

4) What Obama-era rule is Trump trying to undo? The previous Obama administration had started issuing employment authorisation, or work permits, to the spouses of H-1B visa holders in 2015. The spouses or dependents of H-1B visaholders come to the US on H-4 visas. Before 2015, they were not authorised to work in the US. Indian-Americans were a major beneficiary of this provision.

5) Indians will be the worst hit: Trump's move to end work authorisation for spouses of H-1B visaholders will hit India workers in the US the most. The US has issued employment authorisation documents to spouses of more than 71,000 of H-1B visaholders, over 90 per cent of whom are Indians, a report has said.

GES 2017: Economics, Ivanka and Hyderabad's green card-holding rich beggars

GES 2017 : Two women, aged 50 and 44, both natives of Hyderabad, were among some 30 women caught begging near a dargah

Global Entrepreneurship Summit : Two middle-aged women, who speak English and claim to have worked in western countries, are among those caught while begging on city streets recently.

Telangana Prisons Department, in coordination with police and the civic body, has picked up and admitted 235 male beggars and over 130 women beggars to Anand Ashrams (special homes) since October 20 as part of a drive to make Hyderabad a beggar-free city.

"Two women, aged 50 and 44, both natives of Hyderabad, were among some 30 women caught begging near a dargah in Langer Houz. Police took them to Anand Ashram on November 11," a senior official said.

To their astonishment, the Ashram staff found that the two women spoke English well. The elder of the two told the staff that she had an MBA degree, and once worked as accountant in London before returning here. Her son, who was contacted by the authorities subsequently, confirmed this.

The younger woman said she was a Green Card holder and had worked in the US, said K Arjun Rao, superintendent of the Cherlapalli open-air jail and the Ashram in-charge.

"The fifty-year-old woman, who had lost her husband and was facing certain problems, approached a godman, and on his advise started begging near the dargah. Her son is an architect based in the US," he said.

The younger woman claimed that she started begging after her relatives cheated her out of her share of the ancestral property, he said.

"After taking undertakings (that they would not beg again) from them, we handed over both women to their relatives," the official said.

There are still some 12 women in the Ashram, he said.

The drive began after the Director General (Prisons and Correctional Services) V K Singh told the government that the prison department will take care of the rehabilitation of beggars, on the lines of measures taken for the rehabilitation of prison inmates.

However, the drive was postponed after media reports sought to link it to the scheduled visit of US President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, here for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit starting November 28. The drive would resume later, Singh had said.