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Why H-1B Spouses Are At Risk Of Losing Jobs?

Why H-1B Spouses Are At Risk Of Losing Jobs?

New Delhi: Spouses of H-1B visa holder working in the US could be at risk of losing their jobs as US President Donald Trump pushes forward to ban a provision that allows them to work.

The new move is being mulled by the US government is a measure to increase jobs for its own people, according to Trump.

It should be noted that the H-4 EAD (Employment Authorisation Document), which is allotted to spouses of H-1B visa holders has lead to employment of 1,00,000 workers. However, if it is banned, it would affect several families, including a majority from India. 

Several Indian employees, who are spouses of H-1B holders, fear risk of losing their jobs, indicated a report on The Economic Times. If the facility is scrapped, several awaiting to become permanent resident would end up losing their jobs. 

Many of them have house loans, mortgages and other expenses, which require more than one person from the family to be employed.

The law puts all this at risk for over 1,00,000 families. It should be noted that the race for Green Card or permanent residence in the States is hard, especially at a time when levels of protectionism are higher than never before. 

According to report, US Senator Charles E Grassley told that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had discussed with him the prospect of ending the authorisation with regards to the H-4 visa.

It should be noted that an excess of 60,000 H-1B visas are issued to India per year, indicating that the same number of H-4 visas are handed over. If the provision is scrapped, these spouses would face certain unemployment. 

The future of these individuals continues to hang in the balance as the US continues to adopt protectionism as a defense against rising foreign population.

Meanwhile, the outlook for H-1B visas has also suffered a huge blow due to tighter norms introduced by the authorities.

Considering the rules that were required for filling the forms, many companies have opted to send in lesser recommendations.

On Wednesday, news agency PTI reported that the top seven India-based companies in the US received just 8,468 approved H-1B petition for initial employment in FY17, which is a decline of 43 per cent since FY15 when the numbers were at 14,792. 

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