Us Plans End H4 Work Permits H1b Spouses Indian Families Impact
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Indian ExpressVerified Publisher
For thousands of Indian families living in the US on H-1B visas, the right of a spouse to work has quietly become part of everyday life. Now, that arrangement may be at risk. The Trump administration is moving to end employment authorization for H-4 visa holders the spouses of H-1B workers in a proposal that could reverse a decade-old policy and hit Indian professionals harder than any other group. Data shows the vast majority of those affected are Indian nationals, and most of them are women. The plan, listed on
. The Trump administration is moving to end employment authorization for H-4 visa holders the spouses of H-1B workers in a proposal that could reverse a decade-old policy and hit Indian professionals harder than any other group. Data shows the vast majority of those affected are Indian nationals, and most of them are women.
The plan, listed on Reginfo.gov under the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is titled “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Classes of Noncitizens Eligible for Employment Authorization.” It has been added to the Department of Homeland Security’s long-term regulatory agenda under RIN 1615-AD14, though no date has been set for its release.
The official notice states that DHS intends “to remove from its regulations certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrant workers as a class of aliens eligible to request employment authorization under the (c)(26) category.” The agency describes the move as an effort to reverse the 2015 rule that first allowed certain H-4 spouses to work, and to “restore DHS’s long-standing policy of not extending eligibility to request employment authorization to H-4 dependent spouses.”
Indian nationals made up about 71% of approved H-1B petitions in FY2024, according to USCIS data, meaning any change to spouse work rights would ripple through a large share of Indian households in the US.
A 2017 Congressional Research Service report found that of roughly 126,853 H-4 EAD applications approved between 2014 and 2017, 93% went to Indian nationals, and 94% of those were women many working in medicine, STEM, education and technology.
The proposal is still an early step, not a final rule. Before it can take effect, DHS must publish a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register, allow the public to submit comments, and then issue a final rule.
Until that process plays out, H-4 spouses who already hold valid Employment Authorization Documents can continue working under existing rules.
An H-4 visa itself is not a work visa. It’s granted to the spouse or children of an H-1B holder simply to allow them to live in the US together. To legally work, an H-4 holder needs a separate Employment Authorization Document, which is only available if their H-1B spouse is already on the path to a green card typically through an approved I-140 petition or an H-1B extension under the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act. Without an EAD, H-4 holders can still live in the US, get a driving licence and open bank accounts, but they cannot legally work.
During Trump’s first term in 2017, DHS proposed a similar rollback of H-4 work authorization. That plan was never finalized and was formally withdrawn in 2021. The proposal’s return in 2026 marks a second attempt to unwind the H-4 EAD program.
This proposal is one of several recent moves targeting the H-1B program. DHS has also proposed a $103,265 fee on new H-1B hires, and the White House has cleared a plan to eliminate the 60-day grace period that currently allows H-1B workers to find new sponsorship after losing a job.
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