Good news! Spouses of H-1b visa holders can now work in US

Spouses of H-1B visa holders can work in the US

• In a big relief for foreign workers in the US tech sector, a judge has ruled that spouses of H-1B visa holders can work in the United States.
• Google, Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., and other big technology companies won a major court battle in Washington. The judgment says that the spouses of highly skilled H-1B visa holders will now be allowed to work in the United States.

Washington District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued the decision

• The decision was made as US District Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed a lawsuit filed by Save Jobs USA, which had approached the court to revoke the Obama-era regulation that gave employment authorization cards to spouses of certain categories of H-1B visa holders.

Right for Spouses to work is essential

• While Save Jobs USA said it plans to appeal against the court ruling, Ajay Bhutoria, a prominent community leader and advocate for immigrant rights, applauded the court’s decision to allow H-1B spouses to work and support their families.
• Allowing H-1B spouses to work is not just a matter of economic fairness, but it is also a matter of family unity and stability.
• The tech companies argued that the ability of the spouses of H-1B holders to get a job in the US is the major attraction for highly skilled foreign workers.
• The ability of the skilled worker’s spouse to be employed under an H-4 visa affects 87% of families in making significant life decisions like buying a house or having a child, etc.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.