Next month, we are expecting the Trump administration to publish a new proposed regulation that would rescind the H-4 EAD rule. Public Comments can be submitted to try to sway the final outcome. Other than Trump’s general anti-immigrant stance, the purported reasoning for not issuing EADs to H-4 holders is because it harms U.S. workers. However, there is absolutely no data out there to back up that conclusion. As far as I am aware, the only data available regarding the H-4 EAD is the EAD report issued in 2017 at
However, the data in this report is extremely limited. All we know is that in FY 2015, USCIS approved 26,858 EADs for H-4 holders, 41,526 were approved in FY 2016 and 36,366 in FY 2017. The report is based solely on the number of approvals issued, rather than the number of people who received EADs. In other words, this includes people who have filed for an EAD renewal and even people who have filed to replace a lost EAD card.
The lawsuit brought by Save Jobs USA seeking to stop the H-4 EAD rule from being implemented. The lawsuit alleges that a group of computer workers were displaced by H-1B workers and will now face even more competition from H-4 EAD holders, with nothing to back up that statement. How many H-4 EAD holders work in computer-related fields? We don’t know. How many H-4 EAD holders have started their own business and created jobs for U.S. workers? We don’t know. How many H-4 EAD holders work at state government agencies to the benefit of residents in the state? We don’t know.
I feel that during the commenting process, we need to be prepared to support our arguments in favor of keeping the H-4 EAD with data. To do this, I have created a short survey for H-4 EAD holders to complete. I posted it yesterday and over 2,000 people have already filled it out. Did you know that over 50% of the H-4 EAD holders who responded hold Master’s degrees?
If you are H-4 EAD holder, please take a few minutes to complete the survey at http://immigrationgirl.com/survey-for-h-4-ead-holders/.
And if you know an H-4 EAD holder, please share the link so that we can gather as much data as possible!
As I did during the STEM OPT regulatory process, I plan on posting instructions for how to submit comments with some sample language to help you get started, supported by the data gathered from this survey. It’s time to show America what you bring to the table and that immigrants are what makes America great!