Wall Street Journal:
By Miriam Jordan
May 6, 2014
Spouses
of H-1B visa holders being sponsored for a green card by their
employers will be allowed to work in the U.S. as part of a new
initiative by the Obama administration
to attract high-skilled foreign workers.
Deputy
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Commerce
Secretary Penny Pritzker are to jointly announce Tuesday that the
administration plans this and other
revisions to regulations for the H-1B and other skilled-worker visas.
A
senior Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on condition
of anonymity because it was before the official announcement, said that
the goal is "to encourage
highly skilled individuals to work and remain in the U.S., maintaining
competitiveness with other countries also in the market for them."
The
rules, which will be published soon in the Federal Register, are
expected to go into effect after a 60-day public-comment period.
Under
existing regulations, the Department of Homeland Security doesn't
extend employment authorization to dependents of H-1B visa holders, who
normally have specialized
skills in engineering, programming and other high-tech fields.
The
decision stops short of giving spouses of all H-1B visa holders blanket
approval to work in the U.S. Spouses would become eligible only after
the visa holder's company
has petitioned for an immigrant visa for the foreign employee, putting
the employee on track for legal permanent residency, known as a green card. Lawful permanent residents generally qualify to become U.S.
citizens after five years.
"Allowing H-1B spouses to work would be an important change. Sometimes people
aren't willing to come to the U.S. if their spouse can't work," said
Stephen Yale-Loehr,
a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School.
Another
revision expected to be announced will ease requirements for applicants
of an EB-1 work visa, which is issued to researchers and professors
with extraordinary
ability. To qualify, applicants for the visas currently must submit
awards, scholarly articles and a host of evidence to prove their
outstanding recognition in and contribution to a particular field. The
new rule will allow applicants to present comparable
evidence that is acceptable, the official said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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