President Trump’s New Order on H-1B Visas Sends Shockwaves Through Immigrant Communities – RedState– redstate.com

The Trump administration is widening its crackdown on the H-1B system, targeting two major benefits tied to the program: work permits for certain visa holders’ spouses and the grace period that allows laid-off foreign workers to remain in the country while seeking another job.

The Department of Homeland Security has revived a plan to eliminate employment authorization for certain spouses of H-1B workers who are in the United States on H-4 dependent visas.

At the same time, a separate DHS proposal to eliminate the current 60-day grace period for H-1B workers after they lose their jobs has cleared review at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, putting that rule on track for public release.

Together with the administration’s newly proposed $103,265 fee for cap-subject H-1B petitions, the moves represent a broader effort to reshape a visa program that critics have long accused corporations of using to import cheaper labor while American workers compete for the same jobs.

Under a rule adopted during the Obama administration in 2015, certain spouses of H-1B workers became eligible to apply for employment authorization while their families waited through the employment-based green card process.

Not every H-4 spouse qualifies. The benefit generally applies when the H-1B worker is the beneficiary of an approved Form I-140 immigrant petition or has received certain extensions beyond the ordinary six-year H-1B limit.

For those who do qualify, however, the Employment Authorization Document allows the spouse to work independently in the United States. Trump’s DHS is now considering taking that authorization away.

The proposal appears on the department’s regulatory agenda under the title, “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Classes of Noncitizens Eligible for Employment Authorization.”