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The Trump administration’s decision to rescind work authorization for H-4 visa holders is yet to get a final shape as the rulemaking process is partial, an official has said.

The H-4 visa holders include a large number of whom are the spouses of high-skilled Indian IT professionals.

Under the presidency of Barack Obama, certain H-4 workers were allowed to get employment authorization.However, soon after President Donald Trumpcame to power,he announced his plans to rescind such a rule, which is yet to be formally notified. 

The Trump administration has delayed the notification of this proposed rule a number of times in the past two years.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) "continues reviewing" all employment-based visa programs, as well as the H-4 EADs or employment authorization document, an official told PTI.

H-4 visas are issued to immediate family members (spouses and children under 201 years of age) of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.

"No decision about the Obama administration regulation granting work authorization to certain H-4 spouses is final until the rulemaking process is completed," the official said.

The proposal to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B non-immigrants as a class of aliens entitled for employment authorization was reiterated recently by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its annual spring agenda.

"The USCIS is committed to upholding our nation's immigration laws, helping ensure they are faithfully carried out, and safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system designed to protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers," USCIS spokeswoman Jessica Collins said.

"The administration has been relentlessly pursuing merit-based policy and regulatory immigration reforms, including a thorough review of employment-based visa programs so they benefit the American people to the greatest extent possible in fulfillment of the president's 'Buy American, Hire American Executive Order'," she said.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will proceed adjudicating each application, petition, and request with efficiency, fairly, and effectively on an individual basis to ascertain if they meet all standards needed under the applicable policies, law, and regulations, Collins added.

By Sowmya Sangam