Letter to President-elect Biden - Watson Coleman Urges Incoming Administration to Extend Work Authorizations for H4 Visa Holders

Letter

Dear President-elect Biden:

We write to request that you provide immediate relief upon assuming office to the many families
adversely impacted by significant delays in the processing of work authorization documents
(EADs) for people on H-4 visas. These delays in EAD renewals are causing lapses in work
authorization and job losses affecting many people, mostly women of color, in our districts. This
is why we respectfully request that the Department of Homeland Security publish a Federal
Register notice on day one of your administration that would extend the validity period of all
expired H-4 EADs.

As you know, in 2015, after several years of advocacy by community members, including various
South Asian women's organizations, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a rule
allowing certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders to legally seek employment in the
US. Once an H-1B holder is sponsored for employment-based lawful permanent resident (LPR)
status (otherwise known as a green card) his or her H-4 visa-holding spouse may apply for work
authorization. This rule presented an important step towards rectifying gender disparities in our
immigration system as around 95% of H-4 visa holders who have secured work authorization are
women. Before the rule was granted, many women on H-4 visas described depression and isolation
in moving to a new country and not being allowed to work outside of the home.

These women on H-4 visas work in a variety of fields including as essential healthcare workers,
including in research and development roles at pharmaceutical companies; these women play
tremendously important roles as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. We are confident
that your incoming Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security will rectify the systemic
processing issues that have been created by the Trump Administration. Unfortunately, women are
and will continue to lose their jobs until this is put right, disrupting the lives of their families and
the functioning of employers in our districts. We respectfully request that the Department of
Homeland Security publish a Federal Register notice on day one of your administration that would
extend the validity period of all expired H-4 EADs for a sufficient period of time for USCIS to
resolve processing delays.

Source