Dependents of H-1B visa holders (individuals working in a specialty occupation) are currently eligible for H-4 status, but unable to obtain work authorization from USCIS. However, USCIS is currently completing work to finalize a new regulation that would allow H-4 visa holders to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), which would provide them with work authorization in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Under this new regulation, H-4 visa holders whose spouses are in the process of applying for employment-based immigrant visas, and who meet certain requirements will be eligible to apply for an EAD. There are 3 main steps involved in the employment-based immigrant visa application process, the first of which consists of the PERM application to the Department of Labor. The second step is the I-140 application to USCIS, during which the sponsoring company\u2019s ability to pay the proposed wage is determined. If more than 365 days have passed since the PERM application or the I-140 application was filed, and the H-1B visa holder has applied for an H-1B extension beyond the 6th year, his\/her dependents will be eligible to apply for an EAD. In addition, if the H-1B visa holder\u2019s I-140 application has already been approved, H-4 visa holders may also be eligible to apply for an EAD. This new regulation has not been finalized yet, but we will continue to provide you with the most up-to-date information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dependents of H-1B visa holders (individuals working in a specialty occupation) are currently eligible for H-4 status, but unable to obtain work authorization from USCIS. However, USCIS is currently completing work to finalize a new regulation that would allow H-4 visa holders to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), which would provide them with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[8,9,10],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swlgpc.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}