Is H4 EAD termination decision coming this week?

OMB’s Spring Regulatory Agenda, released last week, says H4 EAD decision is scheduled in May.

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It has been more than 90 days since the Department of Homeland Security submitted a proposal to terminate the H4 EAD to the Office of Management and Budget for review. And finally, after the OMB hosting eight meetings over 55 days, a decision may be coming as early as this week.

An indication of that came in the “Spring Agenda” released by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on May 22, 2019. OIRA, a sub-agency within OMB, oversees US government policies and reviews draft regulations.

According to the bi-annual Spring Agenda, the proposal of removing H-4 dependent spouses from the classes of aliens eligible for employment authorization is currently in proposed rule stage and a decision is expected in May 2019.

Certain H-4 visa holders — who are spouses of H-1B visa holders — were given Employment Authorization Document under an Obama-era rule implemented in 2015. But the Trump administration signaled its intention to reverse that rule right from the beginning, arguing that it puts American workers at a disadvantage, even though the US tech industry, one of the primary beneficiaries of the rule change, requested the White House not to scrap the work permit.

The DHS submitted its proposal to eliminate the H-4 EAD to OMB for review on February 20. The OMB review is part of the rule-making process.

ALSO READ: H4 visa: a primer

The Spring Agenda, published last week, has updates on regulatory changes in the work in various federal government departments and agencies in the coming months. Often times, deadlines listed in the agenda are aspirational, meaning it is the time period within which the department or the agency is trying to come up with the rule-change.

Even though legal experts say that termination of H-4 EAD is quite likely, work permit holders can approach courts to ensure that the EADs once granted are not taken away from people, who planned their lives around government’s promise to provide them with a right to work.

OMB records analyzed by the American Bazaar reveal that the agency has conducted eight meetings between March 8 and May 1. In all, at least 68 people many of whom are H-4 visa holders gave the feedback on the proposal to eliminate the EAD, including dozens of work permit holders, immigration lawyers and opponents of H-4 EAD. They include author Amy Bhatt, and H4 EAD holders such as Neha Mahajan, Priyadarshini Chandrasekaran  and Aarthi V. Raghavan.

Representatives of the trade group US Chamber of Commerce, companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce and Accenture, and the tech industry’s prof-H-1B visa lobbying group FWD.US were among the dozens consulted by the OMB.

Following are the individuals consulted by OBM:

1. Amy Bhatt – University of MD Baltimore County
2. Mary Fitzpatrick – OMB/OIRA
3. Sunita Barot – Chemist, NY
4. Nanctini Bhatlachary – Director of Special Ed Org, San Jose CA
5. Rutvi Patel – Physical Therapist in NY
6. Shivi Beckel – Software Developer
7. Apsara Gopalarathnam –
8. Neha Mahejan – Television Producer
9. Nitin Pall – SIIA
10. Murali Kailasunath –
11. Manjula Chitkula – Kalorama Pharmacy
12. Nanayanam Krishnamoothy -  Teleconference
13. John Rodgers – DHS/USCIS
14. Jennifer Van Trump – DHS/USCIS
15. Shannon Joyce – OMB/OIRA
16. Rama Grandhe – Help in Public Schools for Special Needs Children
17. Rachana Mandsaunuale – Pharmacist in MD
18. Swati Patel – DHS/USCIS
19. Rich Theroux – OMB/OIRA
20. Sangeeta Bandal – Special Educator, NJ
21. Gayathri Kesavan – Graduate Architect/Furniture Business Owner
22. Sudhanshu Malani –
23. Abha Kheubanda
24. Tim Dodd – DHS/OGC
25. Srujana Eluri –
26. Jon Baselice – US Chamber
27. Jeff Lungron – US Chamber
28. Stephanie Hall – NAM
29. Christine Scallion – Accenture
30. Rebecca K. Peters – SHRM
31. Hugh Gamble – Salesforce
32. Grace Paek – Microsoft
33. Cesar Villaneueva – OMB/EIML
34. Kris Carlson – Schweitzer Engineering Labs
35. Portia Wu – Microsoft
36. Kan Wang – OMB/EIML
37. Briohailoh Broun – Microsoft
38. Andrew Mariarty – FWD.US
39. Brett Matsumoto – CEA
40. Priyadarshini Chandrasekaran – H4EAD
41. Aarthi V. Raghavan – H4EAD
42. Arijit Banerdee – Consumer51
43. Tim Dodd – DHS/OGC
44. David Houser – DHS/OGC
45. Charlotte Skey – DHS/OGC
46. Shev – DHS/USCIS
47. Ike Brannon – Kemp Foundation
48. Kevin McGee – UW Oshkosh
49. Sujarita Jayara –
50. Asiti Bhavdiocej –
51. Atul Bhardwaj –
52. Margueritte Kleczek – DHS/USCIS
53. Tim Dodd – DHS/OGC
54. Swati Babaria –
55. Varun Gupta –
56. Tushar Patil –
57. Usha Balamurali –
58. Poonam Gangaware –
59. Ekta Gupter –
60. Neha Mahapabra –
61. Kirstin Battaglia – DHS/USCIS In Person
62. Ranjana Varadarajon –
63. Vishnu Ramakrishnan –
64. Swatt Bhandari –
65. Akhila Padanada –
66. Kavya Savat –
67. Neha Chande –
68. Abhijit Majumder

(Editor’s note: A previous version of this posted had listed some of the individuals consulted multiple times. The story has been updated.)

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