Biden Administration Has Withdrawn Trump-Era Move to Rescind Work Authorization for H-4 Spouses

The Biden administration has withdrawn a Trump-era regulation that would have rescinded work authorization for H-4 visa holders. On January 25, 2021, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), withdrew the proposed regulation titled, "Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorization.” Although the Trump administration had announced they would seek to remove the H-4 work authorization, they were not able to complete the process. Since according to a 2018 report by Congressional Research Service (CRS), ninety-three per cent of approved applications for H-4 employment authorization were issued to Indian nationals, this move especially welcomed by the Indian immigrant community.

USCIS Is Reissuing Receipt Notices to Certain EAD Renewal Applicants

Beginning February 16, 2017, US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) began reissuing receipt notices (Form I-797) to individuals who applied to renew their Employment Authorization Document (EAD) between July 21, 2016 and January 16, 2017, and whose applications remain pending in the following categories: 

• (a)(3) Refugee;
• (a)(5) Asylee;
• (a)(7) N-8 or N-9;
• (a)(8) Citizen of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, or Palau;
• (a)(10) Withholding of deportation or removal granted;
• (c)(8) Asylum application pending;
• (c)(9) Pending adjustment of status under section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
• (c)(10) Suspension of deportation applicants (filed before April 1, 1997), cancellation of removal applicants, and special rule cancellation of removal applicants under NACARA;
• (c)(16) Creation of record (adjustment based on continuous residence since January 1, 1972);
• (c)(20) Section 210 Legalization (pending Form I-700);
• (c)(22) Section 245A Legalization (pending Form I-687);
• (c)(24) LIFE Legalization; and
• (c)(31) VAWA self-petitioners;

The reissuing of these receipts was necessitated by the change in USCIS regulations on January 17, 2017, when USCIS started automatically extending certain expiring EADs for up to 180 days while renewal applications were pending. The automatic extensions  apply only to certain applicants who properly filed for a renewal EAD before their current EAD expired, whose EAD renewal is under a category that is eligible for an automatic 180-day extension, and when the category on the applicant’s current EAD matches the “Class Requested” listed on the Notice of Action. 

USCIS is reissuing the receipt notices since some of the notices sent out before that date did not contain the applicant’s EAD eligibility category and in order to ensure EAD applicants have proof of their status for I-9 purposes. The reissued receipt notices will contain: 

• The applicant’s EAD eligibility category;
• The receipt date, which is the date USCIS received the EAD renewal application and which employers must use to determine whether the automatic EAD extension applies;
• The notice date, which is the date USCIS reissued the receipt notice; and
• New information about the 180-day EAD extension.  

To satisfy requirements for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, EAD applicants may present the reissued receipt notice with their expired EAD to their employer as a List A document.

Additionally, it should be noted that applicants with an EAD based on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who filed their EAD renewal applications before January 17, 2017, already received a six-month extension through the Federal Register notice that extended their country’s TPS designation. These applicants therefore will not receive a reissued receipt notice. All renewal applicants who filed Form I-765 applications on or after January 17, 2017, including TPS renewal applicants, will receive Form I-797 receipt notices that contain eligibility category information and information about the 180-day EAD extension.