US May End H-4 Work Permits: What It Means for Indian Families

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has placed a proposal on its long-term regulatory agenda to remove certain H-4 spouses from the group of people allowed to apply for work permits in US.

An H-1B visa allows skilled foreign workers to work in US. Their spouses and dependent children can stay with them on an H-4 visa. However, an H-4 visa by itself does not allow a spouse to work.

Since 2015, certain H-4 spouses have been able to apply for an Employment Authorisation Document (EAD), commonly known as an H-4 work permit.

What is US planning to change?

DHS proposal seeks to remove certain H-4 spouses of H-1B workers from eligibility for an H-4 work permit. If eventually implemented, this would reverse the 2015 rule that allowed eligible spouses to work.

However, this is only a proposal at present. It is listed as a long-term regulatory action, and the date for formally publishing the proposed rule is still "To Be Determined". No Federal Register notice has yet been issued.

This means H-4 work permits have not been cancelled now.

Who can currently get an H-4 work permit?

Under the existing rules, some H-4 spouses can apply for a work permit when their H-1B spouse has progressed through the US green-card process.

This includes cases where the H-1B worker has an approved employment-based immigrant petition, or has received an extension of H-1B status beyond the normal six-year limit because the green-card process is taking longer.

An approved H-4 work permit allows the spouse to take a job, change employers and earn an income independently.

If the work-permit programme is eventually removed, H-4 spouses without employment authorization would generally not be able to take a job in the US.

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Why could Indian families be affected more?

The proposal could have a particularly large impact on Indian families because Indian nationals make up a large share of H-1B workers.

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data cited in the source, 71% of H-1B petitions approved in fiscal 2024 were for people born in India. China was second at about 12%.

Earlier data on H-4 work permits also showed a strong concentration among Indian applicants. About 93% of roughly 126,853 approved initial H-4 EAD applications between 2014 and 2017 were for Indian nationals, while 94% were for women.

For Indian families, losing the ability of an H-4 spouse to work could mean losing a second household income and could affect spouses who have already built careers in the US.

What happens to existing H-4 work permits?

For current H-4 EAD holders, nothing changes immediately.

The proposal does not cancel existing work permits or stop eligible H-4 spouses from working. Before the rules could change, DHS would need to publish a formal proposal, allow the public to submit comments, review those comments and then issue a final rule.

The current proposal also does not say what would happen to existing work permits, renewals or applications that are still pending. Those details would have to be explained in a future proposed or final rule.

What should H-1B and H-4 families watch next?

The key development will be the publication of the formal DHS proposal. It should provide more clarity on whether existing H-4 work permits will remain valid until expiry, whether renewals will continue, how pending applications will be treated and whether a transition period will be provided.

The Trump administration had previously attempted to remove H-4 work-permit eligibility during its first term, but that effort was withdrawn in January 2021 without taking effect.

For now, the H-4 work-permit programme remains in force. Current H-4 EAD holders can continue working under the existing rules while the new proposal moves through the regulatory process.