Date Announced

DHS publishes a notice in the Unified Agenda of Regulatory Actions that it intends to rescind a rule making certain spouses of H-1B visa holders, who hold H-4 visas, eligible for work authorization. [ID #492]

See Biden administration action below.

Subsequent Action

DHS continues to publish in the Unified Agenda its intention to rescind the rule providing for work authorization for certain H-4 nonimmigrants.

Subsequent Action

The media reports that DHS has sent a proposed regulation to OMB to rescind work authorization for certain H-4 nonimmigrants.

Subsequent Action

DHS continues to publish in the Unified Agenda its intention to rescind the rule providing work authorization for certain H-4 nonimmigrants.

Biden Administration Action

This Biden administration policy withdraws in its entirety the Trump-era proposed policy identified in this entry.

On January 25, 2021, the Biden administration withdrew the Trump-era proposed regulation, Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization” (commonly known as the “H-4 EAD Rescission Regulation”) from review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is an office within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) tasked with the review of Executive Branch regulations. The withdrawal of this proposed regulation was in response to a regulatory freeze memo issued by the Biden administration on January 20, 2021, freezing all rulemakings pending review.