US tech giants support work visas for H-1B spouses
American IT giant Google joined 30 top USA-based tech companies on May 14 to file a “friends of the court” amicus brief supporting H-4 EAD, work authorization for spouses of H-1B workers on track for green cards. Google like others wants to protect the H-4 EAD program which spurs innovation, creates jobs and opportunities, and helps families, said Google Indian American CEO Sundar Pichai. In 2019, a District of Columbia (Washington, DC) District Court of Appeals Judge ruled for the plaintiffs, Save Jobs USA, which contended that work authorization for H-4 visa holders — overwhelmingly women from India who often have advanced degrees and job skills comparable to those of their spouses — impacted their members` abilities to get jobs as they competed with foreign workers.
On April 2, 2021, Save Jobs USA filed its second renewed motion for the case to be reheard in the lower court. The case was scheduled to be heard May 17; plaintiffs are scheduled to make their case in court on May 31, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The amicus brief filed May 14 by Google and 30 tech companies — including Adobe, Amazon, Apple, eBay, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, PayPal and Twitter — featured stories of H-1B/H-4 families who had made financial and parenting decisions based on a double-income household.
