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H-4 Ead Update 2


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08/23/2014: Question of Timing of H-4 Employment Authorization Final Rule Making Process

  • H-4 employment authorization reform has already been initiated by the Obama Administration, awaiting the final rule making process. Since comment period was over on 07/11/2014, by early September, it will reach almost two months which have been stuck at the stage of review of comments and draft of it into a final rule and submit to the OMB. In fact, this reform was included in the Senate CIR bill, S. 744, albeit in a different proposal, and the President Obama has been lately citing this change as one of his fixes of legal employment-based immigration system. From the foregoing record, there is a speculation that the draft of final rule may be submitted to the OMB as part of the announcement of his executive action in early September. As readers must have noticed, nowadays, there are numerous reports here and there that Obama executive action may indeed include reform of employment-based immigration system, including H-4 employment authorization proposal. Computer World gives a little more insight into the background story behind this executive action matter.
  • The President is scheduled to return from the vacation this Sunday. Since the Congress is not scheduled to return to the session until September 9, 2014, his executive action is more likely to be released during the next two weeks since the President may want to release it before the Congress returns to the session.
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Obama's options for tech immigration take shape Path is clear for approval of H-1B spouse rule, other changes may come too
Patrick Thibodeau
 
 

August 20, 2014 (Computerworld)

When President Barack Obama takes executive action on immigration, he's expected to give final approval to a rule allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders, now barred from working in the U.S., to get jobs. There could be more changes as well as the Obama administration has met with various tech groups to collect wish lists.

Obama is expected to use his executive authority over the coming weeks to make significant changes to immigration rules in the absence of congressional action.

A roadmap for the president is the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill (S. 744), which has stalled in the House. Obama is being urged to adopt provisions of the bill that don't require congressional action.

The House isn't expected to vote on the bipartisan Senate bill, which passed in 2013.

Two key items believed to be getting consideration by the administration were included in the Senate bill.

First: The U.S. now issues 140,000 employment-based permanent visas or green cards each year, half of which go to dependents. The Senate bill exempts dependents from the cap, effectively doubling the number of green cards available to principals.

The idea of only counting principals and not dependents, including children, against the cap extends to family permanent residency as well. That provides an opportunity to create broad-based support for principals-only reform.

A draft letter from several groups to the president calls for the elimination, or at least a reduction, in the "egregious backlogs for legal immigration by counting only principals against the limits set by the Immigration Act of 1990."

The letter was signed by the IEEE-USA, the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Society for Human Resources Management, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, among other groups.

Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Morrison (D-Conn.), who chaired the House Immigration subcommittee responsible for drafting the 1990 immigration reform legislation that created the present system, believes the White House has the ability, via executive action, to allocate all available employment-based green cards to principals only.

Second: The tech industry also wants Obama to use executive action to "recapture" unused green cards from prior years, and make them available to people now in the permanent residency backlog. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that recapturing unused green cards from 1992 to 2013 would add about 250,000 visas.

The "recapture" action was also sought in the Senate bill.

According to a several sources, some in the high-tech industry may ask the White House to establish an H-1B priority system. The priority system idea was not part of the Senate bill.

The U.S. now uses a lottery system to distribute visas if the 85,000 cap is oversubscribed. A priority system would give preference to firms that aren't dependent on H-1B visas. This may hurt the major users of H-1B visa, offshore outsourcing firms based both in the U.S. and India.

If a company has 51 or more full time employees and 15% of those workers are on an H-1B visa, it is categorized by the U.S. as H-1B dependent and subject to special rules. There is also opposition within the tech industry to a priority system, so it may lack the support needed.

More certain is final White House approval of a rule to allow spouses of H-1B visa holders who are seeking green cards with authorization to work. For now, spouses can't hold jobs.

The U.S. received nearly 13,000 written comments on the proposed rule before the comment period closed last month.

Writing in opposition was the Society of Professional Engineering in Aerospace (SPEEA), whose members are employed as scientists and in technical positions at several large companies, including Boeing.

SPEEA said that there is "the strong likelihood" that spouses will have science, technology, engineering and math degrees (STEM), and that in many cases may work for the same employer are their H-1B holding spouse. It warned that if the rule is adopted, "employers will likely exploit this opportunity by preferentially hiring H-1B workers with STEM-degreed spouses in order to acquire two STEM workers with one H-1B visa."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, supports of the rule, arguing that employed spouses "will improve the likelihood that highly skilled H-1B workers will seek to stay in the U.S. on a permanent basis and remain in the U.S. labor force."

The Obama administration, according to Politico, met with tech and other business sectors earlier this month to discuss immigration issues.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala), a critic of the H-1B program, said this week in a statement that "the same group of CEOs" that helped to write the Senate immigration bill "is now scheming with the White House to extract by executive fiat what was denied to them by the American people and Congress."

 

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08/25/2014: Obama is Back at the White House and Now What?

  • As we reported earlier, the President took a two-week vacation and returned to the White House yesterday. Now, immigration advocates are watching closely when he will use his pen for immigration fixes for undocumented immigrants and legal immigrants. Obviously, he will use his pen before the Congress comes back on the second week of September, should he keep his promise and issue exective actions. Calendar wise, he thus has two weeks to keep his promise of "by the end of Summer." Out of the two weeks, this week is considered very critical because reportedly he is scheduled to travel overseas for the international business next week a lot of time. For the reasons, apparently immigration advocates and businesses are mounting pressures on the White House to take action as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the opponents of executive actions have started increased media campaigns to block his action listing its alleged damage to the Democratic party in the coming November election. For the foregoing reasons, this week will mark as a very stressful week for the immigrant community. Please stay tuned to this website.
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emi vundihi

Mr. President back from vacation .. every one eyes on if he will issue executive order to fix broken immigration system. If so what all issues will be addressed (for us esp. ppl from India will he pass bill to use un-used GC quota & H4-EAD)

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aaabama uncle pithadu ..Egagadu ani e undi man ee news lo..... aadu eegagina tarvata thusudukovali .... malli thinali....malli thudusukovali..... theerika time dorikinappudu....evo paina paina rendu - moodu files soothadu..... ee eech nalugu EAD file yaaado undo file list lo...... 

so dont tear Ds man.... 

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aaabama uncle pithadu ..Egagadu ani e undi man ee news lo..... aadu eegagina tarvata thusudukovali .... malli thinali....malli thudusukovali..... theerika time dorikinappudu....evo paina paina rendu - moodu files soothadu..... ee eech nalugu EAD file yaaado undo file list lo...... 

so dont tear Ds man.... 

 

edhoo hope aasaaa vosthundhi annii

 

leader-movie-6-tn.jpg

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hypocrites raledhenti inka ee thread lo ki sunil.cry.gif

 

 

HAPPYNESS & PRIYA panchaytii looo busy .. [URL=http://www.andhrafriends.com/gallery/image/539-brahmam-style20-0/]gallery_24383_15_1274.gif[/URL]

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