Work permits of H4 visa holders safe at least until January 2020

DHS tells a federal court that ruling on H4 EAD termination not likely at least until spring of 2020.

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H4 visa holders that are currently part of the US work force can keep their jobs, at least until early next year. The Department of Homeland Security told a federal court on Monday that the regulation that would terminate work permits for H4 visa holders will not be announced till early spring.

The DHS told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that the earliest likely announcement date is next spring 2020 and even that is an aspirational time frame.

The court is currently hearing a lawsuit filed by the anti-immigration group Save Jobs USA to invalidate the H4 EAD rule, which was introduced by the Obama administration. The lawsuit, filed in the spring of 2015, argues that the DHS had no authority to issue the H4 EAD rule.

Save Jobs USA sued the Obama administration after hundreds of Southern California Edison employees were replaced with H-1B workers from India.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled to be held on September 27, when both the DHS and Save Jobs USA will present oral arguments.

President Trump had campaigned against immigration and H-1B in 2016.

On February 20, this year, the Trump administration began the formalities for ending H4 EAD when it submitted the proposed rule “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization” to the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

On September 10, DHS in an official reply on the status of case, told the court that H4 EAD termination rule was still being reviewed by OMB.

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