On International Women Day: Spouses Of H-1B Holders Protest Against The Delay In H-4 Work Permits

There has been an inordinate delay in issuing H-4 work authorization permits to certain categories of spouses of those possessing H-1B foreign work visas.

The USCIS issues an H-4 visa to immediate family members of the H-1B visa holders, most of whom are Indian IT professionals.

The H-4 visa is generally issued to those who have already started seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status in the US.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, a group of Indian women over the weekend organized a protest march in San Jose, California, to highlight the suffering of thousands of immigrant women being forced out of their livelihoods, organizers of the event SaveH4EAD said.

Spouses of Indian professionals on H-1B visas, mostly women, are the biggest beneficiary of the Obama-era rule that gave employment authorization cards.

The group has sought the Biden government’s attention to end these arbitrary policies disproportionately oppressing women of colour and robbing them of their livelihood.