Hello, everybody. In this video, I'm going to give you an update on the work permit EAD delays,
specifically for spouses of H1Bs and L1s, the H4, and L2 applicants,
but also, this may impact others that are waiting for EADs. This litigation is super
important and I will get you all the details in this video. So, make sure you stick to the
end. I'm going to break down the status of the litigation, currently, and what's going to happen
with the EAD delays that are currently stacked at USCIS. And they're sitting there and they're very,
very slow. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to our Immigration channel. This is the place where we
talk about immigration news, immigration updates, and everything else that you need to know to make
your immigration journey stress-free. My name is Jacob Sapochnik, and I'm an immigration attorney
located in San Diego, California. I help clients in all 50 states. If you’re here for the first
time, make sure you click the notification bell and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss
any of our videos. And also, give us a big like so YouTube will be able to share this video with more
people just like you. Let's talk about EAD work permit delays. This is impacting so many people,
nearly 100,000 people that are highly qualified, highly educated are currently out of a job because
USCIS is dragging its feet and not processing EAD properly for spouses, they're currently on H4
and L2 visas, so they're going to be able to work and contribute to the economy.
The delay is so severe that some of these people are waiting for months and months
and employers are no longer willing to wait. And many, many people are just losing their jobs
or not able to take on jobs because of that. As a result, a class-action lawsuit
was filed on March 23, 2021, joined by the American Immigration Lawyers Association,
and a few private law firms that also alleges that USCIS has been delaying the H4 and L2 extension.
This extension is taking months and months to actually get those extensions. And as a result,
those applicants are not able to get their EADs because unless you get your H4, L2 approved, only
then you can apply for your work permit. And so, it's kind of like a vicious cycle. And the lawsuit
is alleging that USCIS can do better. They can do more to make sure that these people are going to
be able to work because they need to work right now. The lawsuit also said that these are spouses
of hard-working H1B and L1 visa holders. They invited them to the United States to be able to be
there with their spouses, and they gave them work authorizations in the past. But right now, their
inability to extend their statuses is actually driving many of these people to leave the United
States and causing family separations. That's another thing that the lawsuit is alleging. Also,
they're hoping that this lawsuit is going to allow the new administration to look at those cases with
fresh eyes and say, “Hey, definitely there's a problem. We can do something immediately to take
action and resolve it.” Because remember, this whole issue started under the Trump administration
where they started restricting the ability of H4 and L2 visa holders to be able to work. And at
some point, he wanted to cancel this altogether, a bunch of losses was going on back and forth.
And right now, the idea is to bring this back to this new administration. Look at this, this is a
crisis. Thousands of people are not able to work. You, guys, need to resolve it right now. The funny
thing is that if you look at the statute, spouses of L1 visa should not be even applying for work
permits, it should be given to them automatically. It's in the Immigration and Nationality Act. This
has been in practice over the years where USCIS requires them to file for their I-765 to get
work permits. But if you go back into the law, they should not even need that. They can just
automatically work just because their spouses have F1 visas. The fact is that because they
now require them to do so, the fact that they are not even able to extend their statuses properly
creates this chain reaction of misery for so many families. In fact, we had a client who filed for
I-539 extension over H4 and included their I-765 EAD in the same application last October. And to
this day, her application is still pending. And as a result, she lost her job, and she's not able
to continue working. And it causes hardship for a family. This is crazy. There are thousands of
cases just like this one, and the government must take action to resolve it. Remember, DHS
has legal tools to resolve this crisis and grant the work authorization to 1thousands of people.
They need to use those tools. And they need to use those tools now. Remember, this is not the only
crisis. We've got people that are waiting for the receipt notices still. We've got people that are
waiting for their EADs that are not part of the H4 or L2 family categories who are still delayed
and they're still waiting for their work permits to come through. So, this is definitely a bigger
crisis. And we hope that litigation like this and other losses that are being filed separately will
be able to push for this administration to look and say, “You know what, we’re going to take
better action. We're going to take more direct action, resolve the EAD delays,
and other delays when it comes to USCIS processing.” Because as I said, it separates
families. It creates a financial hardship, and it shouldn't be the case in 2021 America.
So, hopefully, this update was helpful. If you have questions, make sure you leave them in the
comments below. If you're here for the first time, don't forget to subscribe to our channel
and give us a like so YouTube will be able to share this video with somebody that needs
this information just like you. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.