The Trump administration has moved to limit employment authorization for certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security has listed a proposal that would remove eligible H-4 spouses from classes of noncitizens able to apply for work authorization. The measure could particularly affect Indian families, whose members make up a large share of H-4 employment authorization holders.

The proposal is not yet a final rule and does not immediately cancel existing H-4 employment authorization documents, or EADs. DHS must first publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register, allow public comments, and then issue a final rule. Until that process is completed, eligible H-4 visa holders with valid EADs may continue working under current rules.

The proposal seeks to reverse a 2015 policy that allowed qualifying H-4 spouses to seek EADs. By early 2017, 93 percent of approved H-4 EAD holders were Indian citizens and 94 percent were women. USCIS data also showed Indian citizens accounted for about 71 percent of approved H-1B applications in fiscal year 2024.