Washington, D.C. — TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore today issued the following statement in support of the H-4 Employment Protection Act, legislation reintroduced this week by Representatives Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) to preserve the ability of certain spouses of high-skilled workers in the U.S. to contribute to the U.S. economy:
“Legal immigrants and their families are contributing to our economy, playing by the rules, and waiting patiently for the chance to become U.S. citizens, but our policies have made their futures more uncertain and are stifling a key source of innovation and economic growth. We support this commonsense legislation to continue allowing some spouses of high-skilled workers to put their skills to work for the U.S. as they keep waiting in line and following the rules to become U.S. citizens.
“Over 100,000 H-4 visa holders are already contributing to the U.S. economy. We applaud Representatives Eshoo and Lofgren for recognizing their contributions and introducing this bill. We look forward to building support for it as this Congress moves forward.
“Our country benefits when innovators from around the world start a new business here or bring their expertise to a high-skilled job. That is why we should enact policies that help the U.S. attract the best and brightest to work alongside native-born Americans and create world-changing innovations, millions of jobs, and trillions of dollars worth of economic activity here in the U.S. This legislation is an important step in that direction.”
The H-4 Employment Protection Act would prevent the Trump Administration from eliminating a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that grants work authorization to certain spouses of H-1B visa holders while they wait for their green cards. More than 100,000 spouses have been given the right to work under this rule.
TechNet also supports the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which would eliminate the per-country caps in the employment-based green card system — a major contributor to the employment-based immigration backlog in the U.S.