Everything you need to know about H-4 EAD?

 Employers in the United States can hire foreign workers on H-1B visas to work as engineers, physicians, architects, software developers, and other speciality workers in the country. Families of H-1B workers may enter the United States with them on an H-4 visa. Under some conditions, spouses on an H-4 visa are allowed to work. Frequently, an eligible H-4 spouse already has another employment visa, such as an H1B or L-1, and must decide between the H4 work permission (H-4 EAD), an H-1B or an L1 visa, or neither. Which work visa option is preferable cannot be said with certainty because it much depends on the individual's unique situation for the best immigration lawyers in UAE.

Eligibility and Benefits

Only one of the following scenarios will qualify an H-4 spouse for an H-4 EAD: (i) the H-1B worker is the beneficiary of an I-140 petition that has been approved; or (ii) the H-1B worker has extended their H-1B status past the six-year limit in accordance with the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21). The H-1B spouse must have a labour certification or Form I-140 that was filed at least 365 days before the H-1B's sixth year limit expired and is still pending in order for the H-1B extension to be approved under AC21 (the labour certification or Form I-140 cannot have been withdrawn, denied, or revoked).

The H4 spouse must also keep their legal status in order to be eligible for the EAD. Since the H-4 status and the H-1B are intertwined, it's crucial that the H-1B employee maintain legal status as well. For instance, engaging in illegal work would be a breach of both H-1B and H-4 status.

Procedure

The Form I-765 and necessary and supporting evidence must be submitted by eligible spouses in order to apply for the H-4 EAD. The government has up to 90 days to process the application, after which the candidate can begin employment. Unrestricted employment, including self-employment and owning a business, is permitted under the H-4 EAD.

Lower cost: Applying for an H-4 EAD is far less expensive than doing so for an H-1B visa. The federal filing cost for an H-1B is substantially greater than the $410 charge for an H-4 EAD (Form I-765).

No annual cap: Unlike the H-1B visa, which has an annual limit (the ordinary cap for H-1B visas is 65,000, and the master's cap is 20,000), the H-4 EAD does not have an annual cap.

No minimum salary criterion: Unlike the H-1B programme, the H-4 EAD has no need for prevailing wages.

Unrestricted work: Unlike H-1B, which exclusively permits employment in specified "specialty occupations," the H-4 EAD allows for any type of employment. Full-time, part-time, and several employers are all permissible for those with H-4 EAD employment. It's also vital to remember that an H-4 EAD holder is permitted to operate both a company and to work for an employer.

Greater flexibility: The H-4 EAD permits greater flexibility when it comes to taking unpaid time off or terminating employment, for instance, in between projects.

Less documentation is needed: Compared to an H-1B or L-1 application, the documentation needed by one of the best immigration lawyers in UAE for an H-4 EAD application is far less extensive.