My spouse and I are living in different sates due to obvious work reasons. I am currently on H-1B Visa with my I-140 approved. My wife is on H-1b working as a full time employee to XYZ company. Now, with Obama's executive action particularly with H-4 EAD my wife is planning to change her visa status from H-1B to H-4 so that she can get opportunities at the place where I live (at this point of time all the companies at my place are asking her for Either Green Card or Proper Work permit without any sponsorship in order to hire her). In this regards I have 2 questions <br>
1. Would you suggest us to get H-4 approval in advance before H-4-EAD rule comes into effect or would you suggest we can file them concurrently?<br>
2. If she applies for H-4 when can she quit the job - Is it on the day of notice of application receipt from USCIS or from the day of H-4 approval?<br>
P.S: I am aware that no rule has been published yet but just wanted to get your thoughts/suggestions on this issue.
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S. Khanna's conference call video that addresses this question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv_vI7O0d4U#t=110
FAQ Transcript
As you folks know there is a regulation that is pending for a long time and we were expecting in December that it will get finalized, published and H-4 people whose spouses are at the I-140 stage would have the right to work with an EAD. So far that is still pending; there is no news on that. Last week USCIS said that they are very close to finalizing but knowing the government I do not know what very close means.
There is a difference between Executive action of Obama and the pending regulation for H-1 EAD. These are two different things. Right now we are waiting for the regulation that was pending to be published.
So the answer to the question is she can quit the job on the date USCIS receives the H-1 application. If she does the H-1 application online then she can quit the same day. I would want you to wait and see what the rule looks like before you start making changes in the work authorization. if you’re ok with the idea that your wife could end up not working at all for many months then go ahead and apply for H-1 but if you do not want to take that chance then wait until the regulations become finalized and then you can decide how you want to go about.