H4 EAD - UPDATE

[Suhaas]

DHS Asks the Court to Hold the H-4 EAD Case for Six Months

 

SAVE JOBS USA v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY was a case filed back on April 23, 2015 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia . Save Jobs USA is an organization comprised of IT workers who claim they lost their jobs to H-1B workers. The group challenged the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”)  H-4 EAD regulation that went into effect on May 26, 2015. The court granted summary judgement in favor of the government, finding that only a subset of H-4 visa holders would be eligible to obtain EADs and Save Jobs USA did not establish that its members would be harmed by having to compete against a subset of H-4 visa holders for jobs. In addition, the court went on to state that Congress delegated authority to DHS to set rules regarding employment authorization and DHS was reasonable in using that authority to grant EADs to some H-4 visa holders. The case was closed at the district court level on September 28, 2016.

Save Jobs USA immediately filed an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case has been winding its way through the appeals process for the last four months. Save Jobs USA filed its brief discussing the merits of the case on January 11, 2017.

In February 2017, the government filed a motion to request an extra 60 days to submit their brief in response to the Save Jobs USA brief.  This lead many to speculate that the government intends to revoke the H-4 EAD rule. Today is the deadline for DHS to submit its brief in the case.

The government has just filed a new motion today requesting the Court to hold this case in abeyance for 180 days to permit the Department time to reconsider the H-4 Rule and whether issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking relating to it is appropriate. The Government will update the court every 60 days concerning the Department’s review, and will inform the Court promptly should it determine new rulemaking is or is not appropriate before 180 days elapse.

The government’s position is that an order holding the case in abeyance will serve judicial economy and prevent the expenditure of the resources of the Court and the parties. If the Department elects to promulgate a new rule that is different from the Rule at issue in the appeal, that may obviate the need for judicial review of the current rule.

 

What does all this mean? For now, we have to wait and see if Save Jobs opposes the government’s request and whether the court grants it. Most importantly for readers here: The H-4 EAD remains available and USCIS should continue to approve them as normal.

[Suhaas]

 if it's a repost. 

P.S: I am not pro/anti H4 EAD. Don't shoot the messenger please. 

[argadorn]

good news for H4 people...but it wont sustain longer...

[Anta Assamey]

[Simple123]

Source please 

[Suhaas]

1 minute ago, Simple123 said:

Source please 

http://immigrationgirl.com/dhs-asks-the-court-to-hold-the-h-4-ead-case-for-six-months/

[Rain]

Let's wait and see till September 27 2017

Good news for H4 EAD right now but after  6 months anything can happen.

H4 EAD was a executive order dated dec 2014 and went through rule making process for next 6 months which became effective from may 2015.If H4 EAD has to be repealed it takes lesser than 6 months but DHS might provide some transitional period for H4 EAD to change to another visa.Here is the link

https://www.perchingtree.com/can-president-trump-repeal-h4-ead-program/

[Quickgun_murugan]

[boeing747]

[zoolakataka_14]

[Prince_Fan]

deenemma congrats everyone

[crazymatta]

2 minutes ago, Prince_Fan said:

deenemma congrats everyone