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America to suspend biometric requirements for processing H4-EAD visas

2 min read
Visa Renewal Pilot Program

The US immigration agency will suspend biometrics for all H4 and L2 applications (H4-EAD visas) from 17th May 2021, said the attorneys at Wasden Banias, an immigration law firm.

This is relied upon to help speed up processing times for visa extensions and employment authorization of H-1B and L1 visa holders in the United States.

The move came in response to a class-action lawsuit by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and Wasden Banias.

“USCIS confirms it will suspend biometrics for ALL #h4 and #L2 applications as of 17th May 2021. In a court filing in Seattle late Monday night… This is an important initial step to restoring sanity to #H4EAD and #L2EAD adjudication times,” the law firm Wasden Banias tweeted.

The USCIS will make more data about this requirement available to the public in the coming days.

USCIS to suspend biometric requirements for processing H4-EAD visas

There have been serval days in processing the employment authorization documents (EAD) for H4 visa holders. More than 90% of whom are Indian women. “It’s difficult for the more than 100,000 individuals who have lost work on account of government awkwardness. It is the first step in fixing this issue. However, the agency still needs to fix a system full of broken processing. Until we get back to the simultaneous filing of applications we will see delays persist,” said Jonathan Wasden, partner, Wasden Banias.

In April, a lawsuit was filed against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). However, challenging the extraordinary processing delays on extensions of status and extensions of EAD for H-4 and L-2 non-immigrant spouses.

[President Biden Adds India to the List of COVID-19 Public Health Travel Ban Countries]

“We are excited USCIS has decided to cancel its biometrics requirement for H4 and L2 non-immigrants. But, there is much more that should be done to restore predictability, sanity, and faith in the H and L visa programs. We are hopeful this is only the first concession. Moreover, we are able to get out of our litigation efforts,” said Bradley Banias, partner, Wasden Banias.

“The delays that H-4 and L-2 non-immigrants are facing unnecessarily place families in financial limbo…. DHS can and should revoke the unnecessary biometrics requirements for H-4 and L-2 non-immigrants. Give automatic work authorization while DHS processes EAD renewal requests. And permit EAD candidates to file their renewal applications sooner than 180 days before EAD expiration to prevent gaps in work authorization,” Jennifer Minear, President of AILA had said while filing the lawsuit.

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