Spouses Of H-1B Visa Holders Allowed To Work In The US

New York: In a big relief for foreign workers in the US tech sector, a court has reversed a policy that prohibited the spouses of H-1B visa holders from working in the US.

The decision was made by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday, bringing relief to thousands of skilled immigrant couples in the US.

In the process, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed a lawsuit filed by Save Jobs USA which had approached the court to dismiss the Obama-era regulation that gave employment authorization cards to spouses of certain categories of H-1B visa holders.

Tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft had opposed the lawsuit. The US has so far issued nearly 1,00,000 work authorisations to spouses of H-1B workers, a significantly large number of whom are Indians.

Under the Obama administration, spouses of H-1B visa holders were allowed to work in the US under certain conditions. However, in 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the Trump administration introduced a rule that prevented H-4 visa holders from seeking employment in the US. This had a disproportionate impact on women, as the majority of H-4 visa holders are women.