USCIS to Process H1B, H4 (and EAD) together Starting Jan 25
USCIS to process H1B, H4, EAD together starting Jan 25, 2023. RN Law group reached court settlement. Get all 3 approved in 15 days using premium.
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USCIS has reached a settlement agreement to process the H1B, H4, and EAD together (as they used to do earlier) starting Jan 25, 2023.
During Trump’s government, USCIS added the H4 biometric requirement and started processing the H4 and EAD separately. This added unnecessary delays and increased processing time by up to 2 years.
To get the H4 and EAD approval quickly, do this:
- File H1B extension/transfer/Change of status, H4, and H4 EAD in the same package (at the same time).
- Request H1B premium processing – You will get all 3 approvals within 15 calendar days.
Steven Brown of the RN Law group has shared the good news on his Twitter account. He worked with Jonathan Wasden from Wasden Law and Jesse Bless on behalf of AILA.
H4 Biometric?
It is unclear whether the H4 biometric requirement is going away. It is not mentioned in the settlement agreement.
Steven believes that USCIS may extend the H4 biometric suspension (which was suspended during COVID until Mar 2023). There is no official information available from USCIS yet.
We will update this page as soon as we get any concrete information.
If the h4 biometric requirement is not removed, we suspect the delays will still be there.
Source: RN Law
anil_am22
Its only applicable if the H4 and/or EAD are applied with H1B at the same time.
If you file separately, then this rule won’t apply.
To answer your question, you are talking about H4 COS, which will be considered ‘together’ only if you file H1B extension and then spouse’s H4 COS at the same time in same package.
Prabhu_Anbalagan
Hello Anil, firstly thanks for posting great information. Please comment on this one. As of now waiting for Perm, will file I140 in premium. After that, I could file concurrently for H1B, H4 extension and H4 EAD under premium processing per the new policy. Hope my understanding is right. Thanks.
anil_am22
No, they said that they will start implementing it for new filing starting Jan 25.
Prabhu_Anbalagan
Hello Anil, I couldn’t find a way to post a new message here. So, I used the reply option. Sorry for that. Could you please comment on this one. I’m waiting for Perm and will file I140 in premium. After that, I could file concurrently for H1B, H4 extension and H4 EAD in premium processing per the new policy. Is my understanding right. Thanks.
Kalpesh_Dalwadi
I dont think EAD will be approved with H1B & H4, however EAD will be auto-extended ( if not first time) once your H4 is approved so that you can keep working.