Blow to spouses of H1B holders

New Delhi: In what could be a major blow to H1B visa holders, of which majority are Indians, the Trump administration is now planning to make sure that spouses of this visa holders will not be getting a license to work anymore.

The US government is now planning to come up with a proposal that will end allowing spouses of H1-B visa holders, who will be on H4 visa, to work legally in the USA.

Analysts are dubbing that this move will create a devastating impact on lakhs of Indians in the USA. An estimate is that nearly 70,000 Indians hold H4 visas and working right now. In 2015, Obama rule allowed H4 holders to work irrespective of the Permanent Resident status.  

As of June 2017, the US government had granted 71,287 initial (versus renewal) employment authorisation documents to H-4 spouses of which 94 percent were women, and 93 percent, were from India.

Naturally, to meet ends in the USA and have good savings, spouses of almost all Indian H1B visa holders work in various odd jobs.