Today, May 26, 2015, is the first day the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will accept applications for employment authorization documents (otherwise known as work permits or EADs) for the spouses of H-1B visa holders whose employers have successfully completed two phases of the permanent residence process.
Who is Eligible?
There are two bases of eligibility, both depending on the stage of the H-1B visa holder’s permanent residence case.
- H-1B visa holder has an approved I-140 Worker Petition
- H-1B visa holder has an H-1B extended beyond the regular six years maximum through the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21)
Why provide work authorization for only some H-4 spouses?
Particularly Indian employment-based permanent residence beneficiaries are stuck in a long wait list for permanent residence. These employees are in H-1B status while waiting for their place in the wait list, but their spouses have not been authorized to work before now. That might be ok for three or six years, but when the wait lists drag on for many years, the lack of spousal work authorization can be a burden on families.
Form Change:
The USCIS provided a new version of Form I-765 last week for use in H-4 work permit applications. This new version of the form contains a space for the H-1B worker’s information required to adjudicate this species of work permit application. Applications submitted using previous versions of the form will not be rejected, but may be delayed while USCIS sends Requests for Evidence to gather the information missing from the old forms.