Dependents of H-1B visa holders get relief from the US court

A US court has rejected the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) motion which sought dismissal of the lawsuit filed against unreasonable delay in issuing work authorization renewals for the dependents of H-1B visa holders.

As against the request of one of the plaintiffs, the court has also urged the USCIS to provide information regarding this within three days.

On December 9, the USCIS had filed for a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in the Northern District Court of California filed by a group of 45 foreign nationals against unreasonable delay in issuing H4 EAD renewals. The H4 visa holders are spouses of H-1B visa holders in the US and majority of them are Indians.

During the trial the USCIS stressed the point that the place where the law suit is filed is an improper place as only six plaintiffs are residing in the district. They also claimed that the cases cannot be included under one lawsuit.

In an order on December 15, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, dismissed the USCIS’ arguments. Judge Corley stated that six plaintiffs in a district is sufficient to establish that the venue is proper.

Also while 39 of the 45 plaintiffs might have got their visas, the action is capable of repeating considering that large number of them are Indian H-1B visa holders, whose spouses would need to renewals, a report by Moneycontrol.com said.

“For the reasons set forth above, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part defendants’ motion to dismiss… those whose H-4 visa status and EAD renewal petitions have been adjudicated are moot… but those plaintiff’s unlawfulness claims were not… Because Defendant’s updated appendices fail to provide information regarding Plaintiff Choudhary’s applications, Defendants shall produce information regarding her applications within 3 days of this order,” the order read.

H4 EAD was introduced under the Barack Obama administration in 2015 that allowed the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work. This benefited large number of Indian women in the US. However these spouses have been facing huge delays in getting H4 and their Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewed, leading to many of them losing jobs.