Spouse Immigration

Rights Of The H1B Spouse

Education is the gateway to so many opportunities. This is true for those foreign to the United States because the US is able to allow 65,000 educated individuals per year whom are engaged in "specialty occupations" to obtain temporary visas to work for sponsoring employers in their designated fields.

This has become a popular method for getting extremely qualified doctors and physicians from all over the world to practice here in the United States when there are no qualified U.S. citizens to work the position.

Unfortunately there are some restrictions to this temporary citizenship, especially concerning and H1b Spouse. They are not allowed to work while in the United States. An H1B Spouse usually comes to the Americas on a H4 visa which is also known as a dependent pass. This is one of the major criticisms on the H1b immigrant visa.

It is hard for a single person to support a family in any country these days. It also poses problems in the event that the H1b worker loses their employment here. Then their temporary invite to work in the United States is terminated. Without the other spouse having the same rights as H1b, both spouses and their family must leave the country. The only way around this is finding another sponsor in the field for which both the sponsor, the field of work and the immigrant qualify.

The only thing an H1B Spouse is able to do in the United States as an H4 holder is attend school, operate a vehicle once they obtain a driver's license and open their own bank account. Their rights are restricted posing a significant deterrence for qualified experts in "specialty occupations" to come to this country to fill positions that otherwise cannot be filled. Those with a spouse might be less likely to join the US workforce under these conditions.

With that downside noted, it still provides for a great opportunity for educated professionals to share their expertise with America. It eliminates outsourcing with the requirement that no other qualified US citizen is available to take this position and the maximum term for stay is 6 years. They must either apply for a green card work permit through a sponsoring company or return to their country. It's a win win situation for both parties.