Home » US Immigration - Visas » H4 Visa » News: H4 Visa EAD Rule – Lawsuit Filed – Will it impact ?

News: H4 Visa EAD Rule – Lawsuit Filed – Will it impact ?

As many of you know H4 Visa EAD Rule was passed earlier in February 2015 and we have published a lot of FAQs on Applying EAD on H4 Visa EAD clarifying a host of questions in a series of 4 articles.

Background :

The new H4 Visa EAD rule,  is effective from May 26, 2015.  As per USCIS estimates, the number of H4 visa holders that would be eligible would be around 179,600 in the first year and then about 55,000 per year after first year.  With some of this stats in context, “Save Jobs USA”, which is a group of former employees of Southern California Edison have filed a lawsuit against USCIS to block the new rule that grants EAD for certain H4 visa holders.

What’s the lawsuit against H4 Visa EAD Rule ?

The claims in the lawsuit are that with EADs for certain H-4 visa holders, the labor pool in USA increases, where it increases the competition and directly impacts the former Edison workers in terms of the job opportunities, besides it will let the H1B holders stay longer in America.  The agency, which is The Immigration Reform Law Institute  (IRLI), representing on behalf of the ‘Save Jobs USA’ says that they are fighting  on behalf of the American workers and will hold administration accountable for the law.

What’s the Impact  of this on the EAD rule for H4 Visa holders ?

As many of the H-4 Visa holders have been waiting for this EAD rule to pass so that they can start to work, this new lawsuit adds more stress to those waiting for the new rule to pass.  As far as the lawsuit goes, so far there is NO impact on the H4 visa EAD rule that will be effective in May.  The only situation when this could impact is when the court grants a preliminary injunction for the plaintiff.

Some of the prominent immigration attorney groups like Murthy.com have reviewed the complaint filed by the “Save Jobs USA” and advised that the this lawsuit may not succeed and it is very likely that the EAD rule would go into as planned. We will keep you all posted, if any developments in this rule.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the lawsuit will stop the H4 visa EAD rule ? You may read the full lawsuit by checking below references.

2017 Update :  After Trump Administration took office, this lawsuit got some traction and currently in action. Check H4 EAD Rule Trump Administration Impact & Status for latest info.

References

   

Other Articles

25 Comments

  1. H4 EAD must get revoked. This is making the OPT and H1B visa holders to find less job options and companies prefer h4 EAD candidates as they need not sponser h1b. In India the brides are running after these USA based H1B visa holder guys as these brides could easily get a golden spoon as soon as they enter the USA after their marriage even wiithout facing much tougher phases like OPT or H1B visa holders these h4 ead candidates are getting the jobs. This is not good for the properly educated and hard working other visa holders.

    Reply
    • USCIS should completely ban H4! H1B for highly skilled workers only and encourage only OPT, Importance to folks who graduate out of US universities for job priority.
      H1 B should be only highly skilled workers – Doctors, Scientists not software engineers and other IT workers

      Reply
  2. I agree with you Anita.I am in IT staffing business too and I see a lot of fake resumes for job application. Not just h4 EAD but we see visa abuse with L1 category too. Some peeps enter on L1 visa with managerial positions and are eligible to apply for Green Card through EB1 category which is premium processing for Green card application.This is completely unfair to those who are highly skilled immigrants waiting for their Green cards.
    H4 EAD should be revoked soon.They are even doing food businesses without FDA approval.

    Our country should first think of us citizens first and their job demands. Also new improved laws should be enforced on companies hiring H1B candidates for cheap labor.I came across so many clients who are hiring /prefer cheap H1B labor over highly skilled americans. This is not fair at all. Trump administration and USCIS should take steps and work on this asap.

    Reply
    • USA currently has 6 million unfilled job openings. So the argument that H4 EAD is stealing American jobs is untrue as they make up only 100k workers. In the absence of H4 EAD also, those job positions will remain unfilled because the problem is in the unavailability of labor. So. H4 EAD is actually helping the nation by adding to to its Economy and GDP

      Reply
  3. Most H4 EAD receipients have no real job experience or qualifications to enter the job market and only do so by creating fake resumes with 10 years of experience. Thats the only way these people are getting the jobs and this is taking away from the qualified US Citizens that have real qualifications and students who are entering the job market.

    Our country has to first protect its citizens and only then worry about the rights of people who are not citizens. This EAD rule has to be stopped . All QA departments in companies are filled with these EAD people with fake resumes.

    I am in staffing business and i have never seen such levels of disgusting fake resumes entering into job market. Stop H4 EAD and H1bvisas.

    Most H1b visa holders dont even have a job and look for jobs after that using body shops. H1b visa holders are not innocent or being taken advantage of. They are co -conspirators in the visa fraud committed by employers. Call your congress man or Senator and give your opinion and these visas have to be abolished.

    We americans are the only ones that are being abused by these h1b and h4 people taking away the jobs with fake resumes.

    Reply
    • Anita,
      You are probably referring to Indian Consultancy employees. But your assumption that “Most H4 EAD receipients have no real job experience or qualifications to enter the job market and only do so by creating fake resumes with 10 years of experience” this is wrong… people will get fired from their jobs if they are not deserving candidates right?

      Reply
      • Hi Anita,

        You are absolutely right about fake resumes. The H1B visa have been misused by lot of people specially Indians and due to which american citizens are suffering but its not true in every case. I am H4 visa holder. I had 5 years of experience and i joined in a company by showing my real resume even though consultancies ( Indian Consultants) were forcing me to pay them money to get a job with fake resume, which dint seem right to me. Even though i had to start with less pay as I didn’t have US experience and there was 2 years work experience gap, but to enter the market and to start from somwehere, you have to compromise with your pay scale, and this leads to low pay scale job offers same with my husband( H1B visa holder), he told me there were 25 mechanical students in his class and only 2 of them got job in their own mechanical stream( including my husband) and rest 23 shifted to IT. If you see in a broad way, it is not easy for international students to find a job offer letter just in 3 months, so just being afraid of being deported back to their own country, they look for consultancies which help them to provide jobs with fake resumes, who is at fault, consultancies or students, i guess both or the law who force them to return back if you don’t have a job offer.

        Reply
        • Hi Missing,
          That is the problem. You start with low wage and this depresses salaries. In an attempt to protect h4 ead, you actually have pointed out the pitfall.
          Thank you.

          Reply
  4. H4 EAD shall fulfill the following conditions: 1. H4 candidate’s spouse, the Primary (on H1B) should have lived in the country for 6 years. 2. The Primary shall have I140 approved along with the Condition 1. 3. H4 EAD is like L2 for L1, meaning it’s expiry date ends with the Primary legal stay date. 4. If the Primary’s status goes void or illegal (for some means), H4 EAD follows the suit and goes void / illegal as well. 5. All H1B filed by Indians and Chinese do not apply for I140 and do not allow them to stay beyond 5 years, so 75% goes unused. Remaining local consultants on H1B and escaped one from their employers on H1B will be eligible. The number may be huge as it’s been accumulated for 20 years. Once, USCIS cleans the first round of H4 EAD filing, the subsequent years will not get many H4 EAD candidates per the smart rules applied by USCIS. This is a WIN-WIN situation. US Economy will increase and domestic product and services will be at optimal as these H4 EADs willl not leave the country but add fuel to the economy by buying cars, homes, and other financial transactions. Also, these H4 EADs can not climb up career graph for another 5-6 years as the Alien Number will clearly display their new status and employer can bargain salary between 49k to 60K as they do not have experience for the past 6 years at least. Over all, it helps the US economy more.

    Reply
    • No it does not help US CITIZENS. WE ARE SICK OF YOU TAKING OUR JOBS. CONGRESS IS SUPPOSED TO PASS LAWS ON IMMIGRATION POLICY NOT BUREAUCRATS IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH. THAT’S OUR SYSTEM.

      Reply
  5. I do not have a personal opinion on whether this H4 EAD rule should exist, but I can say that USCIS Office of the General Counsel has seriously ridiculed the lawsuit filed against it.

    I work for the Counsel and based on the current information that I possess, H4 EAD will not be hindered by this lawsuit.

    Reply
  6. If this bill pass thorugh, people in US loose thier job and its indirectly it will impact Indian IT industry – I think some other standardisation need to bring on.

    Reply
  7. H4 EAD bill should stop.
    Lots of americans are going to miss their jobs.

    I am on H1b my wife is h4 still i oppose this bill.

    Reply
    • H4 EAD should pass. This is mostly opposed by Indians as they are more gender biased and cannot tolerate females getting to better roles.

      Reply
    • You probably think this because your wife never worked in India.. This is not the case for many H1b Indians in America. Even the USCIS knows that spouses of intelligent H1b candidates are well educated and working creams of India.. They want such people to work for USA. Hence this rule is thought of in the first place.

      Reply
  8. I was kind of expecting this. I have no idea how DHS took this decision into its own hands. This has to go through Congress for approval.

    Reply
    • Read the original lawsuit document referenced in this article.
      People who have been working for more than 15 years have been replaced by consultants. Would you stay calm if the same thing happened to you?
      They couldn’t do anything with H-1B. So, they are fighting against H4 EAD.
      Totally understandable!

      Reply
  9. Instead of 179,600 for the first year for H4 visa holders , better add this number to H1B cap. Helpful for the upcoming people in rotation basis. Otherwise most people who got settled with family through H1B will apply for green card and chance working in H1B will be dream for further generation

    Reply
    • 179,000 are eligible. It doesn’t mean they will apply. I know couple of ppl who have L1 and so their spouse can get EAD but they haven’t coz there are stay at home spouses.

      Moreover, I find the 55K per year kind of weird. In total there are only 85K H1 every year. And if you listen to majority of Americans opposing H1, they say most are for Asian companies (Indian & Chinese) and most do not apply for permanent stay. Which means a large % of 85K will never apply for permanent stay and hence will never be eligible for EAD.
      Am I right or am I missing something?

      Reply

Leave a Comment