Work permit holders demand premium processing for H-4 EAD and L2 EAD, cancellation of biometrics.

Nina Sharma has been a star performer at a Seattle-based software firm where she worked, having received a promotion recently. She has been consistently doing great at her job that she has held for six years.

There are different USCIS processing times for different tasks. USCIS has thousands of task and most of them have different processing time. But here we will discuss processing time related to H1b, H4, EAD, F1 etc. According to American Immigration Council’s analysis, the average processing time of all cases have inreased by 46% since Fiscal. H4 Employment Authorization Document (EAD) I Forms. 100 – 300; 300 – 600; 600 – 900; 900+ N Forms. N-400: Application for Naturalization; Useful Info. USCIS Form Processing Times; NVC Case Status; Priority Dates; H1B Premium Processing; Breaking Down the Credit Score; Passport Books versus Passport Cards; U.S. Naturalization Ceremony; The.

But last December the Seattle resident had to quit her job because her H-4 work permit extension did not come in time. “When I applied for H-4 EAD extension, I hoped that like every other year I would receive it in 3-4 months,” she told The American Bazaar. “But it’s been more than six months and I haven’t even received even a biometric appointment.”

Fortunately, Sharma’s husband, who is on an H-1B visa, received his extension on time. But Sharma was left waiting for her H-4 as well as H-4 EAD. The couple did everything possible to expedite the process and save her job they dearly need to maintain their lifestyle in the country.

“I raised service requests, asked for expediting the case and even met with our local senator to request for an answer,” Sharma said. “My employer wrote a letter stating loss to company due to my unemployment, we submitted our house mortgage papers, bills for our son’s daycare but so far nothing has come out of it.”

READ: A timeline and history of H-4 EAD (January 27, 2021)

Sharma’s case is not an isolated one.

Across the country, hundreds of H-4EAD holders are eagerly awaiting their renewals for work permits so that they can continue their jobs. The story is no different on the East Coast. New Jersey resident Shivani Shah, too, had to leave her job.

H4 Ead Premium Processing 2020

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“New year began on sordid note for me as I had to leave my job,” she told the American Bazaar. “My employer has assured me that he will wait to fill the position until March this year. And if I get my EAD by then, I can rejoin. But since my biometric appointment too is pending, I am not sure if I will be able to save my job.”

While losing the jobs most of these women worked really hard for is enough to upset their financial stability, there are other social and familial hardships, too. Take the case of Rajani Kumari, who last visited India in 2018 and was hoping to visit again in 2020, as soon as it was safe to do so. However, since her H-4 approval is yet to come, she runs the risk of getting stuck there. “My son is a US citizen and if I were to go and there is any delay or problem in my stamping, I do not want to be stuck so far away,” she said.

When the new Biden administration rescinded its predecessor’s proposal to eliminate the H-4 EAD, there was an obvious joy in the community. But most of these H-4 visa holders who have work permits—a majority of whom are Indian women — say that the work is only half done.

There are two primary calls to action that the work-permit holders demand: first, allow premium processing for H-4EAD and L2 EAD; and two, cancel the biometrics.

The newly introduced biometric appointment wastes a lot of crucial time for visa holders, some say.

“Legal immigrants on pending visa status are losing jobs as their EAD cards are not approved on time during these unprecedented days leading to added unemployment,” said Netra Chavan, an immigration consultant.

H4/L2 EAD delays are leading to health issues for many spouses indirectly, said Chavan, adding that that during her interactions with families in the visa limbo she has come across many heart breaking challenges they have been facing.

“Many spouses were/are pregnant and suffering psychologically leading to complications,” Chavan said. “Plus, many domestic violence cases are also reported. Additionally, there are people who cannot visit sick parents or funerals of their own parents/relatives outside the country.”

Many legal non-immigrants on dependent visas or H4 visas are suffering psychologically as they are unable to plan either for their own-self, family or professional actions. “Life is halted and revolving everyday around the pending applications. If the delay was due to a pandemic crisis, it was acceptable but it seems like other ways, as other few categories get flexibility and biometric is waived for them,” said Chavan.

H4 Case Processing Time Uscis

Backlog created by Trump has hit spouses of Indian H-1B visa holders the hardest.

A group of 60 US House members has urged President-elect Joe Biden to unilaterally extend the validity of work permits of H4 visa holders, a majority of whom are spouses of Indian H-1B visa holders.

The plea was made in a letter signed among others by all four Indian American lawmakers — Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal.

Other key signatories include congresswomen Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rashida Talib, Barbara Lee and Judy Chu.

Changes made during President Donald Trump’s tenure to the way employment authorization documents are processed have led to months-long delays, the letter points out.

READ: DHS tells federal court that H4 EAD termination rule is still being reviewed by OMB (September 10, 2019)

Loss of, or inability to secure, employment outside of the home has taken researchers, physicians and other highly-skilled roles offline while also adding new financial burdens for these families, it says.

“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 H4 EADs,” the lawmakers wrote.

“In 2015…the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a rule allowing certain H4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders to legally seek employment in the US.”

“This rule presented an important step towards rectifying gender disparities in our immigration system, as around 95% of H4 visa holders who have secured work authorizations are women,” the letter stated.

“Before the rule was granted, many women on H4 visas described depression and isolation in moving to a new country and not being allowed to work outside of the home,” it said.

“Unfortunately, these women are losing 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.”

The legal immigration system has been severely harmed by Trump administration policies, the lawmakers stated noting the US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) currently has a backlog of approximately 2.5 million cases, the highest net backlog in nearly two decades.

READ: USCIS says rule-making process to terminate H4 EAD not complete yet: report(June 18, 2019)

Much of the growth in the case backlog at USCIS has been caused by policy changes that have increased the amount of time it takes to process forms and issue visas, the lawmakers pointed out.

A tremendous target of these changes has been the H-1B visa program, which allows highly-skilled immigrants, including doctors and nurses, to live and work in the US, they noted.

Despite the clear need for more medical personnel during the covid-19 crisis, the Trump administration has issued bans limiting the program, attempted to cripple the program through regulatory changes, the lawmakers stated.

This has greatly increased the difficulty of obtaining an H-1B visa – simultaneously hampering H4 visa holders and applicants, they added.

Meanwhile, NBC News cited the cases of thousands of immigrants across the US — most of whom are women from India — who have lost their jobs because the USCIS failed to renew their work authorization.

The work permits are normally issued to spouses of skilled workers on H-1B visas after their employers have begun the process of sponsoring their families’ green cards.

H4 Processing Time Texas

READ: Houston law firm sues USCIS over delay in H4 extension, H4 EAD(June 10, 2019)

H4 Case Processing Times

Experts cited by NBC News say that while the Trump administration has met resistance in its attempts to overhaul the H-1B program as part of its broader efforts to curb immigration, targeting the spouses of H-1B workers on the H-4EAD program by repeatedly threatening to revoke it — and by slowing the processing of the work permits — has proven easier.

The H-4EAD program was “low-hanging fruit in terms of immigration policy, especially considering that Trump had run on much broader sweeping immigration restrictions,” Amy Bhatt, the author of “High-Tech Housewives: Indian IT Workers, Gendered Labor, and Transmigration,” a book about the experiences of Indian women in the U.S. on H-4 visas, was quoted as saying.

Case Status

With the administration’s days numbered, advocates for the work authorizations are calling on the incoming Biden administration to direct USCIS to end the processing lapses that lead to job losses in order to provide stability to the mostly Indian women across the country whose careers are currently dictated by the federal government, NBC News said.

Ninety-three percent of the more than 90,000 people who were granted first-time H-4EADs from 2015 to 2018 were women, most of whom came to the US from India, according to data from USCIS cited by NBC News.

Overall, 93 percent of current H-4EAD holders are South Asian women, according to South Asian Americans Leading Together.

H1 To H4 Processing Time

On average, H-4EAD holders surveyed for a report published last year by the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute faced a four-year employment gap in the US, not including the length of time it would take to obtain a job after receiving the H-4EAD and assuming the H-4 visa holder did not obtain an employment visa during that time.