New York: "Withdrawn". A single word on a thick bureaucratic file on the seventh day of the Biden administration delivered a huge win for spouses of workers on H1B visas in the US who spent the last four years worried sick that their work authorisations would be killed off.
"Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization" was a Trumpian agenda pursued by White House immigration hawks with a great deal of inter-agency collaboration and discipline. It was being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
After years on a cliff edge, the H4 community is relieved. "We've had enough," said an Atlanta resident who has a valid H4 employment authorisation document.
