Eric S

Did someone post this news already?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...44550269535992

- Eric S.

ian-mstm

I can't get the full article, but the headline suggests that the spouse of an H-1B worker being sponsored for a green card will be allowed to work. Well, from where I sit... that's not really news! If the spouse is listed on the I-485 paperwork, then the spouse can get an EAD... and be allowed to work. Is there something in the full article that's suggests something different?

Ian

rebs

There was another post about this recently, which had a link to a different article.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...45&postcount=1

ian-mstm

Right... so this isn't something new - although it seems they're trying to spin it into something new.

Ian

rebs

No, it didn't look ground breaking to me...

I did wonder if it meant that the point where the spouse could get an EAD might be a bit earlier than it currently is, but I'm not really au fait with the Green Card application process, so I don't really know

ian-mstm

That would certainly be an improvement over the status quo.

Ian

Brat1

From what I understand, having been involved in a tiny way with one of the focus groups who have been fighting for this, the proposal is that they are considering allowing H1-B spouses to work, if they have an approved I-140. In other words, if your spouse is in the EB3 category, you would be allowed an EAD once your I-140 is approved, and won't have to wait until your priority date becomes current.

All good news as far as I'm concerned, and looking at the June visa bulletin, the EB3 category has gone back 18 months, which is not good news for anyone waiting on their priority date

ian-mstm

Ah, well... that makes sense! That'd be very good news for H-4 spouses!

Ian

S Folinsky

General comment: The government fiscal year starts October 1st. So June is the last month of the 3rd quarter of FY 2012. The law limits visa issuance for the first three quarters to 27% of the permissible world wide allocation. Accordingly, there is often a regression in the last four months of the fiscal year because the law actually permits somewhat of an accelerated rate of issuance. Historically, the allocations tend to "catch-up" so to speak the following October or November. Here is the history. [Sometimes, the Department of State estimates are off causing no visas to be available at all in the fourth quarter. The system is premised upon most people immigrating on immigrant visas with a few adjustments -- that has not flipped around and the DHS is notorious for not giving out particularly accurate statistics to State.].

Brat1

Very interesting, but this is where this all becomes too much for me to understand. If last month, they were processing applications with a priority date of October 2012, how can they go back to processing ones with dates of March 2011?? Surely all the March 2011 ones have gone through processing. I find this all so confusing, and I thought I was half intelligent

Still, good news if this new deal for the H4 spouses goes through, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.