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发帖数: 329 | 1 link: http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2014/05/07/many-h4-visa-holders-will-get-work-permits-year/
A historic first for the US immigration system.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: If all goes according to proposed plans announced on Tuesday by
the Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Deputy Secretary of Homeland
Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the Department of Homeland Security will start
issuing for the very first time Employment Authorization Cards (EAD), also
known as work permits, to some H4 visa holders, sometime this year.
The dramatic announcement was made by Pritzker in a conference call to
reporters yesterday. She outlined two main regulations proposed by the Obama
administration: to give work permits to those spouses of H-1B visa holders
who have a Green Card application being processed; and to attract highly
skilled researchers and scientists from around the world. Other regulations
being put in place include making it easier for workers from certain
countries to continue employment in the US.
The beneficiaries would be those H-1B applicants and the dependent H4 visa
holders who have an approved 1-140 application or have waited beyond the six
years of their H-1B visa period and are in line for a Green Card.
The new rules, which could come into effect as early as in the next four
months – after it is published in the Federal Register, followed by a
period of 60 days months where comments would be taken from those who are
for and against it, and then by a 30 day waiting period for the cards to be
issued, would benefit almost 100,000 H4 visa holders this year – 97,000
according to Mayorkas – and around 30,000 annually in the coming years. At
present, every year 85,000 H-1B visas are issued, including 20,000 for
students who graduate from universities in the US.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the change to the
regulation on skilled workers would:
Update the regulations to include nonimmigrant high-skilled specialty
occupation professionals from Chile and Singapore (H-1B1) and from Australia
(E-3) in the list of classes of aliens authorized for employment incident
to status with a specific employer,
Clarify that H-1B1 and principal E-3 nonimmigrants are allowed to work
without having to separately apply to DHS for employment authorization.
Allow E-3, H-1B1 and CW-1 nonimmigrant workers up to 240 days of continued
work authorization beyond the expiration date noted on their Form I-94,
Arrival/Departure Record, while the extension request is pending.
It would affect workers in specialty occupation nonimmigrant classifications
for professionals from Chile and Singapore (H-1B1) and Australia (E-3), as
well as Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island (CNMI)-Only Transitional
Workers (CW-1).
Under current regulations, employers of workers in E-3, H-1B1, or CW-1
status must generally file a petition requesting the extension of the
employee’s status well before the initial authorized duration of status
expires. |
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