H4 Visa

The spouses of H-1B visa holders are issued the H4 visa, which does not allow the spouses to work. 

But from 26 May 2015, there was a provision that was added - H4 visa EAD - which would let dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders work in the US provided the H-1B spouse:

·         Have an approved I-140, which is the immigration petition for foreign citizens to get Green Card or Permanent Residency in USA.

·         Have H1B visa status extended beyond 6 years under AC21 Act, which allows H1B holders seeking Green Card to work and stay in USA beyond 6 years, if their Green Card or Permanent Residency Application is Pending.

Merit-Based Immigration System

The current U.S. immigration system favors uniting family members with relatives already in the country. It was built on the premise that any person, regardless of how much education or money they have, can come to the United States and create a productive life for themselves.  

However, President Trump is pushing forward with his promise of a harder line on legal immigration, endorsing a proposal to slash the number of immigrants admitted to the United States while favoring those with certain education levels and skills.

White House staff have been working closely with Cotton and Perdue for weeks on the legislation, which would restrict how the U.S. admits immigrants and move to what Trump has described as a "merit-based" system similar to that used in Australia and Canada.

Entry-level H-1B programmers

The U.S. government is taking action that will likely increase the visa denial rates of H-1B programmers, a move that could help U.S. nationals, both in terms of wages and jobs.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) wants programmers who offer skills that are specialized or unique. That means firms seeking to hire programmers at entry-level wages may see their H-1B visa requests denied. 

There's a reason the U.S. doesn't want entry-level visa workers. Take for instance, Michigan, a state that President Donald Trump won. The prevailing wage for an entry-level computer programmer in Flint is $38,000, while the mean wage for that occupation in the city is $60,000.

2016 Entry/Exit Overstay Report

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Entry/Exit Overstay Report. The report provides data on departures and overstays, by country, for foreign visitors to the United States who entered as nonimmigrant visitors through an air or sea Port of Entry (POE) and were expected to depart in FY16.

The in-scope population for this report includes temporary workers and families (temporary workers and trainees, intracompany transferees, treaty traders and investors, representatives of foreign information media), students, exchange visitors, temporary visitors for pleasure, temporary visitors for business, and other nonimmigrant classes of admission. This population accounts for 96.02 percent of all nonimmigrant admissions at U.S. air and sea POEs in FY16.

Importantly, the report does not cover all foreign visitors to the United States—such as those who enter the United States through a vehicular or land POE. Nor does the report provide the total estimated in-country overstay population currently in the United States. Rather, it provides data on overstays in a snapshot of time—those foreign visitors who were expected to depart in FY16, and those who did not do so.

Grace Period for H1B Visa

On January 17, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security extends a 60-day grace period to any H-1B holder that finds themselves without a job. This gives people the opportunity to find a new job, transfer to another immigrant or nonimmigrant visa class, or settle any affairs before traveling back to their home country. 

Last year, if an H-1B holder lost his or her job for any reason, they would need to leave the country almost immediately to avoid being considered “out of status”. This could easily result in serious consequences such as finding yourself  barred from re-entry into the U.S.

In addition, at the beginning and the end of your H-1B period of stay, you will be able to take advantage of two ten-day grace periods to settle in before getting to work and to wrap things up before leaving the country.

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USCIS received 199,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period

USCIS announced on April 7, 2017, that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2018. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.

USCIS received 199,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 3, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 11, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing.

Trump Temporarily Suspending Premium Processing for H-1B

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would start accepting the H-1B visa applications for the fiscal year 2018 beginning October 1, 2017, from April 3. 

It also announced the temporary suspension of the premium processing of H-1B visas beginning April 3. “This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing time,” the USCIS said. By temporarily suspending premium processing, the USCIS has said that it will be able to process long-pending petitions, which they have currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premium processing requests over the past few years.

Trump’s H1B Visa Immigration Reform

President Donald Trump is considering a new way of distributing the H-1B visa to ensure they go to the "best and brightest. This draft executive order might open the door to major reforms of the H-1B and the Optional Practical Training programs.

The draft executive order calls for "an investigation of the extent of any injury to U.S. workers caused by the employment in the United States of foreign workers admitted under the nonimmigrant visa programs," which includes the H-1B program. Specifically, it asks the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees immigration, to "consider ways to make the process for allocating H-1B visas more efficient and ensure that beneficiaries of the program are the best and the brightest.