Work authorisation for spouses of H1-B workers in US: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has a suggestion for Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: Karnataka's Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah has a message for Sushma Swaraj - Pay the US back in its own coin.

Siddaramaiah didn't explicitly say that but it's what he implied when he tagged external affairs minister Swaraj in a tweet linked to a TOI article which said spouses of H-1B workers in the US will no longer be able to seek employment or set up their own business.

The Karnataka CM said: "Denying spouses of H1B visa holders in the US the permission to work is not fair. Techies from Karnataka are affected by this. Bengaluru is home to a large number of US expatriates. Should their spouses have a free ride here? @SushmaSwaraj".



TOI reported yesterday that the US plans to revoke a policy which enables spouses of H-1B visa holders to obtain an employment authorisation document (EAD). This move will impact nearly 100,000 spouses of Indian workers, mostly women.

Siddaramaiah was essentially wondering why then spouses of US workers in India - specifically in Bangalore where many are based - should be allowed to be employed without any reciprocity in the US toward Indian spouses.

Spouses of H-1B visa holders are issued an H-4 visa, which does not give them the right to work in the US. In May 2015, the Obama administration introduced a policy which permitted certain H-4 visa holders (spouses of H-1B visa holders who were on track for a green card) to apply for an EAD.

In March, many influential executives from the technology company-dominant hubs of the East Coast sent a letter to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services showing their support for H-4 spouses. They supported H-4 because of the decade-plus green card backlog and as they appreciated the high cost of living on a single income.

"Without immigrants, we would not have companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Qualcomm and denying spouses the right to work would not attract the best talent to the US. Further, many spouses with work authorisations have set up their own businesses and are employment generators", they said.

Given such support, including from various industry bodies and business leaders, there was a glimmer of hope that the EAD policy would stay. These hopes now appear to be dashed.