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- Published: March 30, 2023 11:33
New Delhi: In a remarkably good news for foreign nationals holding H-1 visa, a court in United States ruled that their spouses can work in America.
This come as major relief for thousands of foreign nationals including Indians employed in the US-based multinational firms including Google, Amazon, Facebook & other MNCs. Notably, all of these biggies laid off a large number of their employees in one-go and more pink slips will likely to be handed over in near future.
Tanya Chutkan, a US District Judge, rejected a lawsuit by the Save Jobs USA, which moved court seeking revocation of an Obama-era regulation, under which permission was granted to spouses of certain category of H-1B visa holders.
Notably, the tech giants like Apple, Google & Microsoft had voice their opposition to this lawsuit. Till now, the US administration has provided over 1 lakh authorizations to spouses of H-1B visa workers, a significant portion of which comprises of Indian nationals.
With this ruling, the US court has upheld the Obama-era legislation, under which spouses of H-1 visa holders were allotted H-4 visas.
About H4 visa & the controversy around it
The United States issues H-4 visas to dependents/spouses & children of those foreign national holding H-1B, H-2B, H-2B & H-3 visa. Notably, the H-1B visa holders comprises of a select pool of individuals with proven talent & expertise in their respective field. Their spouses & dependents are by default educated & intellectually sound enough for good employability.
Indians benefit the most from H-4 visa
However, this came under risk during Donald Trump as he proposed to shut down the H-4 work authorization as part of his nationalist pitch & anti-immigration policy.
A data from National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis shows that Indians benefit hugely from H-4 visas as more than two-third visa holders are said to be Indians while Chinese account for 6%. Females account for 90% of the H-4 visas, most of which are Indian nationals.
