What would H1B holders do if the H4 EAD rule gets revoked?

[Minta1]

Both my husband and I have H1Bs and work for tier1 companies in the US.Our PD is 2016 so there is no way we will get our green card in the next 5-10 years. Now I want to quit my job to take a break and get an H4 EAD. However, If this rule is revoked then I will surely move to Canada soon. Have a Canada PR and need to move before 2021. Wondering what are other people thinking? We need to move for sure and are thinking that at least one of us should go with a job so that we don’t have to dip into our savings. Would like to hear from people who have abandoned their H1Bs to move to Canada? Do you intend to move back to the US? What’s your strategy? Thanks

 

[Takentaken421]

H4 EAD will likely be revoked this year and it is not clear yet whether they will revoke existing H4 EADs or just new/renewals. 2016 PD is not going to be current atleast until next 25-30 years. Since you already have Canada PR, you should start searching for jobs there (if you are serious about moving to Canada). As you may already know, it won't be an easy decision to quit current job and look for new one probably on a lower pay scale. My spouse and I both are on H1 with fresh renewals for next 3 years and we are awaiting Canada PR. There are so many things which influence your decision such as job stability, money, kids, weather etc. To be honest, even we don't know if we will be moving to Canada soon (assuming we get our PR ) .

 

[Minta1]

H4 EAD will likely be revoked this year and it is not clear yet whether they will revoke existing H4 EADs or just new/renewals. 2016 PD is not going to be current atleast until next 25-30 years. Since you already have Canada PR, you should start searching for jobs there (if you are serious about moving to Canada). As you may already know, it won't be an easy decision to quit current job and look for new one probably on a lower pay scale. My spouse and I both are on H1 with fresh renewals for next 3 years and we are awaiting Canada PR. There are so many things which influence your decision such as job stability, money, kids, weather etc. To be honest, even we don't know if we will be moving to Canada soon (assuming we get our PR ) .

The decision would be tough but from our perspective it would be better to move to a country with a PR and get some stability/ peace of mind. Since, our PD is not becoming current in the next 20 years we would like to move and focus on building our life in Canada and leave this GC rate-race.

 

[DEEPCUR]

Sorry, I didn't get you.. if you have H1, why are you worried about H4 EAD? For taking a break, you just need to convert to H4 right, not necessarily H4 EAD.. and you can switch back to H1 once you think your break is done.

 

[harirajmohan]

The decision would be tough but from our perspective it would be better to move to a country with a PR and get some stability/ peace of mind. Since, our PD is not becoming current in the next 20 years we would like to move and focus on building our life in Canada and leave this GC rate-race.

First decide if you want to continuously work in US due to backlog. Then you can see when to quit. If you plan to move then you can quit at that time of move.

If 6 years of H1 exhausted: Also to get back on H1, i think that you should have your 140 approved already to get into quota exemption. Based on your note, i assume that you dont have your own 140 approval (and cant use spouse's 140 for your extension of h1).

other option is that you/your spouse can try to move to border city jobs in US before 2021 and try to commute.

 

[Minta1]

First decide if you want to continuously work in US due to backlog. Then you can see when to quit. If you plan to move then you can quit at that time of move.

If 6 years of H1 exhausted: Also to get back on H1, i think that you should have your 140 approved already to get into quota exemption. Based on your note, i assume that you dont have your own 140 approval (and cant use spouse's 140 for your extension of h1).

other option is that you/your spouse can try to move to border city jobs in US before 2021 and try to commute.

This is my first H1B and my 6 years will be over in 2023. My GC process has been initiated by my company but no approved I 140 yet. I want to take a break now due to personal reasons now. Having an H4 EAD helps me to work part time and take a low stress job of my choice and choose my hours. Not sure in the current scenario how easy it is to again get an H1 after a break. No, I don’t want to work in the US forever. My husband would like gi

 

[harirajmohan]

This is my first H1B and my 6 years will be over in 2023. My GC process has been initiated by my company but no approved I 140 yet. I want to take a break now due to personal reasons now. Having an H4 EAD helps me to work part time and take a low stress job of my choice and choose my hours. Not sure in the current scenario how easy it is to again get an H1 after a break. No, I don’t want to work in the US forever. My husband would like gi

Then i too dont see an issue in quiting like DEEPCUR said. You can quit anytime as you would get the quota exemption later. You dont need to rely/worry about H4EAD.

 

[DEEPCUR]

This is my first H1B and my 6 years will be over in 2023. My GC process has been initiated by my company but no approved I 140 yet. I want to take a break now due to personal reasons now. Having an H4 EAD helps me to work part time and take a low stress job of my choice and choose my hours. Not sure in the current scenario how easy it is to again get an H1 after a break. No, I don’t want to work in the US forever. My husband would like gi

Did your PERM get in to audit or you have any visa extension issues by any chance? These momentary enthusiasm to move to Canada comes only in such circumstances and weans away after the real underlying problem gets addressed. I have seen lots of people being so interested in Canada when their extension or PERM or i140 gets RFE, but eventually the interest weans away once that gets addressed. They just go mum on that subject or change to we will see for few more years types.

Coming to your question.. I am not sure how long you wish to take a break.. if your husband's H1 has validity left for couple of years, you can get H4 EAD till that time and should be able to use it till then. Even if they remove H4 EAD, they are unlikely to do anything for existing valid H4 EADs.. so you can still take that break that you wanted and get back to H1 when you want to end it.

As a side note, you might think it would be nice to work part time, low stress job etc, but it is practically impossible to do such things being in visa mess. I am not sure on what profession you work, but part time is not possible in most white collar professions like IT, healthcare etc. There are enough H4 EADs in the market even to work on half salary for a full time job. You would have to switch to some low paid pink collar profession or teaching to get in to such a work set up. I am not sure if you would be eager to do switch careers, getting extremely less paid etc.

 

[Minta1]

Did your PERM get in to audit or you have any visa extension issues by any chance? These momentary enthusiasm to move to Canada comes only in such circumstances and weans away after the real underlying problem gets addressed. I have seen lots of people being so interested in Canada when their extension or PERM or i140 gets RFE, but eventually the interest weans away once that gets addressed. They just go mum on that subject or change to we will see for few more years types.

Coming to your question.. I am not sure how long you wish to take a break.. if your husband's H1 has validity left for couple of years, you can get H4 EAD till that time and should be able to use it till then. Even if they remove H4 EAD, they are unlikely to do anything for existing valid H4 EADs.. so you can still take that break that you wanted and get back to H1 when you want to end it.

As a side note, you might think it would be nice to work part time, low stress job etc, but it is practically impossible to do such things being in visa mess. I am not sure on what profession you work, but part time is not possible in most white collar professions like IT, healthcare etc. There are enough H4 EADs in the market even to work on half salary for a full time job. You would have to switch to some low paid pink collar profession or teaching to get in to such a work set up. I am not sure if you would be eager to do switch careers, getting extremely less paid etc.

A lot of what you say makes sense and would surely go into my decision making process. To be clear no audit or RFE - only personal reasons due to which I want to take a break for a few months. Yes, I know ppl think of Canada only when something goes wrong. However, for us since our PD will not become current in even 20 years I don’t think we will have a choice. So the sooner

 

[DEEPCUR]

A lot of what you say makes sense and would surely go into my decision making process. To be clear no audit or RFE - only personal reasons due to which I want to take a break for a few months. Yes, I know ppl think of Canada only when something goes wrong. However, for us since our PD will not become current in even 20 years I don’t think we will have a choice. So the sooner

Well, this is everyone's million dollar confusion. For sure that's going to mean pay cut, I'm not sure how one could strongly decide on this.. like giving up on US is hard to imagine.

The very thought of leaving the place where the whole world dreams and longs to immigrate sounds bit worrisome.

Some people make it easy by transferring within their own company.. some manage to find jobs in border and do daily commute.. some work remotely for the same US job from Canada.. some boldly find jobs freshly and make a move confidently.. and lot of them just waste the Canadian PR too..