On January 25, 2021, H-4 EAD Rescission Regulation was withdrawn from review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is an office within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) tasked with the review of Executive Branch regulations. The proposed regulation had been pending with OIRA since February 2019. The withdrawal of this proposed regulation was in response to a regulatory freeze memo issued by the Biden Administration on January 20, 2021, freezing all rule makings pending review.
It is important to note that litigation (Save Jobs v. DHS) remains pending in federal court challenging the DHS final rule promulgated in February 2015 that extends eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrants.
Also, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, proposes to include a provision to provide work authorization to certain spouses of H-1B visa holders, along with addressing related issues like clearing the employment-based immigrant visa backlog, recapturing unused visas, reducing lengthy wait times and eliminating the per-country visa caps. Although the bill has not yet been introduced in Congress and the text has not yet been released, the legislative proposal attempts to codify H-4 work authorization for dependents of H-1B visa holders into the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
We will regularly update the blog as soon as any new information is available.
Disclaimer
This article aims to provide new information concerning H-4 EAD Rescission Rule. This article, under no circumstances, acts as legal advice; therefore, for any immigration questions, please contact your Attorney or the Ahluwalia Law Offices, P.C. (Team ALO).
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