Tech companies want US visa holders be supported for work

2 mins read

US-based tech firms gathered support to shield a legislation that allows partners of H-1B visa holders to be employed in the country.

Leading the coalition is the tech giant Google which already forwarded an amicus statement laying down the law’s importance to the Department of Homeland Security on Friday in connection to a current case being dealt between the department and Save Jobs USA.

Since 2016, Save Jobs USA has been caught in a legal battle with the DHS. The group is composed of IT workers who said their places were taken over by H-1B visa holders who are not from the US. Save Jobs US pushed through with filing charges against the department. They protest to stop the H-4 employment authorization document or the EAD.

“The ability to recruit and retain the world’s best talent is crucial to America’s economic success – and it has been from the beginning,” Catherine Lacavera, Google’s vice president said in a statement. “That is why we have advocated for a fair and competitive immigration system. And that is why now, as the US emerges from a pandemic only to face unprecedented global competition, we support a system that offers opportunities to highly skilled workers and their families, and cements the citizenship of dreamers rather than miring immigrants in decade-long application backlogs.”

Lacavera said that the H-4 EAD programme gives work authorization beyond 90, 000 individuals. Among this number, 90pc are women.

 “The pandemic has already disproportionately impacted women and ending this programme would only make things worse, leading to disrupted careers and lost wages,” Lacavera said.

According to reports, it will take as long as two years for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to finish the H-4 EAD applications process. Recently, Google has taken part on the amicus brief backing the charges pushed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association to accelerate the procedure.

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