In a move that would affect thousands of Indian workers, the US government has started the process to ban work permit for the spouses of H1-B visa holders, reported The Economic Times.

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The department of homeland security, on May 22, had issued a notice proposing a rule that would ban the H-4 EAD (Employment Authorisation Document), citing that American citizens would benefit "by having a better chance at obtaining jobs that some of the population of the H-4 workers currently hold," the report said.

The biggest beneficiaries of the H-4 EAD programme are the Indian female engineer who accounts for about 90 percent of the 1.2 lakh visa issued since 2015, the report said, adding that if the proposal is approved, it will take a while to take effect.

“The process is currently at the second last stage. Once it is approved here, it will be posted in the federal register and people will have 30 or 60 days to post comments, following which the regulation will be made final,” Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney at immigration law firm Immigration.com told ET, adding that it may take as long as a year for the programme to be completely scrapped off.

Since 2017, the Trump administration has tightened its rule around immigration across the country, with Indians getting affected by the tightening of the H1-B visa programme for IT services companies in favour of US tech companies, the report added.

First Published:May 27, 2019 11:19 AM IST