Spouses of H-1B visa holders can work in US, says judge

A US district judge ruled that spouses of H-1B visa holders can work in the United States. The judge dismissed a plea filed by Save Jobs USA, an organisation of IT workers who claim they lost their jobs to H-1B workers. The H1B visa programme is designed to allow skilled foreign workers to come to the US and work for American companies. However, until recently, spouses of H-1B visa holders were not allowed to work. Washington District Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed a lawsuit filed by Save Jobs USA which had approached the court to dismiss the Obama-era regulation that gave employment authorisation cards to partners of certain categories of H-1B visa holders. Judge Chutkan said the primary contention of Save Jobs USA is that Congress has never granted the Department of Homeland Security authority to allow foreign nationals, like H-4 visa-holders, to work during their stay in the United States. The judge wrote that Congress has expressly and knowingly empowered the US government to authorise employment as a permissible condition of an H-4 spouse's stay in the United States.

H-1B workers have applauded the ruling, saying it will bring relief to thousands of families across the country. "This decision will provide much-needed relief to families who have been struggling to make ends meet and it will help to ensure that these families can stay together and thrive," said Ajay Bhutoria, a prominent community leader and advocate for immigrant rights. The H-1B visa programme is designed to allow skilled foreign workers to come to the United States and work for American companies.

According to The Washington Post newspaper, nearly 200,000 IT workers have been laid off since November last year, including some record numbers in companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. As per some industry insiders, between 30 to 40 per cent of them are Indian IT professionals, a significant number of whom are on H-1B and L1 visas.