The Trump administration placed on its regulatory agenda an immigration rule that would end the ability of the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States. Since 2015, a Department of Homeland Security rule has allowed the spouses of H-1B professionals with pending green card applications to obtain H-4 employment authorization documents, or EADs. The rule was intended to increase the competitiveness of U.S. companies in attracting talent, since Canada and other countries allow spouses of high-skilled foreign nationals to work.

H-1B temporary visas are often the only way for high-skilled foreign nationals to work in the United States long term. Employers must pay the higher of the actual or prevailing wage paid to U.S. professionals with similar experience and qualifications. A proposed rule may price many H-1B visa holders and employment-based immigrants out of the U.S. labor market by changing prevailing wage levels. Another upcoming rule may introduce additional H-1B restrictions. Companies recruiting at U.S. universities find that international students account for approximately 75% to 80% of full-time graduate students in AI-related fields, such as computer and information sciences.

Trump officials have proposed or implemented several restrictions on high-skilled foreign nationals. On August 25, the Trump administration proposed a $103,265 tax on all petitions subject to the H-1B annual limit in an immigration rule. The rule was similar to a presidential proclamation in Sept. 2025 that imposed a $100,000 fee on the entry of new H-1B visa holders. In June, a federal judge struck down that fee, calling it an intrusion on Congress’s taxing authority.

A New Immigration Rule Added To The Regulatory Agenda

At the end of August, Trump officials added a rule to the regulatory agenda titled, “Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses From the Classes of Noncitizens Eligible for Employment Authorization.” The regulatory summary did not list an expected date for publishing the rule.

“DHS is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrant workers as a class of aliens eligible to request employment authorization under the (c)(26) category,” according to a regulatory abstract. “This proposal would reverse the changes made in the 2015 final rule, ‘Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses,’ and restore DHS’s long-standing policy of not extending eligibility to request employment authorization to H-4 dependent spouses.”

If DHS moves forward with the rule, it likely would have a significant economic impact. According to National Foundation for American Policy calculations of government data, between FY 2023 and FY 2025, USCIS approved 228,147 initial and renewal applications for H-4 EADs. USCIS typically approves H-4 employment authorization documents for 3 years. The number does not represent an exact count of the H-4 EAD population, since some people may have received a green card or left the country after receiving approval.

Ending employment authorization for the spouses of H-1B visa holders would fit the administration’s pattern of trying to reduce America’s labor supply through immigration restrictions, such as by reducing legal immigration and ending Temporary Protected Status for most recipients. Economists consider a growing labor force essential to the U.S. economy and economic growth. However, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s immigration policy, appears to believe in the lump of labor fallacy, the notion that only a fixed number of jobs exists and new entrants to the labor force must take jobs from incumbent job holders.

Reducing the number of foreign-born workers in the labor force has not helped U.S. workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey for July showed a decline of 1.8 million foreign-born workers since January 2025. At the same time, the unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers increased to 4.6 percent in July from 4.3 percent in January 2025, when Donald Trump became president.

An NFAP analysis by University of North Florida economics professor Madeline Zavodny found almost 90 percent of spouses of likely H-1B visa holders have at least a bachelor’s degree, and over half have a graduate degree. Zavodny concluded that almost half of spouses of likely H-1B visa holders with a bachelor’s degree had a major related to science, technology, engineering and math. (Zavodny analyzed data from the American Community Survey.)

The loss of a second income and career could drive individuals waiting for employment-based green cards to leave for Canada or elsewhere. More than 1 million people from India are waiting in the employment-based immigration backlog, according to a recent National Foundation for American Policy report . NFAP found that an Indian with a labor certification application or an employment-based immigrant petition filed in January 2026 or later has a potential wait time for a green card (permanent residence) of 179 years in the employment-based second preference (EB-2) and 38 years in the employment-based third preference (EB-3) category.

“This proposal would impose enormous hardship on families who are following the rules and waiting in line for permanent residence,” said Kevin Miner of Fragomen in an interview. “Because of government processing delays and severe backlogs in the availability of immigrant visa numbers, many families remain in temporary status for years or even decades. Taking away a spouse’s ability to work during that prolonged wait would deprive families of income, careers and financial stability through no fault of their own.” He added, “This would also have a negative effect on the ability of companies to attract critically needed high-skilled talent.”

The rule would not be the administration’s first effort to restrict EADs. Jonathan Wasden of Wasden Law filed a lawsuit in January 2026 attempting to overturn an interim final rule that ended the automatic extension of employment authorization documents. Wasden also sought relief for clients due to unreasonable delays. “The government has opted to moot these cases out by delivering EAD cards instead of fighting it out in court,” said Wasden in an interview. “This is a great result for individuals but makes it hard to get general relief for the broader H-4 community. It’s sad, but to avoid job disruption, people really have to start advocating for themselves early on. Expedite requests and congressional inquiries aren’t moving the dial, but the Federal court process is.”

The Trump administration overturned a Biden rule allowing a 540-day automatic extension if USCIS did not complete processing an EAD application before an individual’s work authorization expired. The Trump rule affected new applications.

Legal Obstacles In The Path Of The Immigration Rule

A Supreme Court case on DACA recipients could be the most significant obstacle facing an administration rule ending employment authorization for the spouses of H-1B visa holders. After unsuccessful efforts to pass legislation in Congress, President Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program in 2012. DACA protected qualified young people from deportation and granted them work authorization.

In September 2017, the Trump administration ended DACA. Following a lawsuit filed by the University of California, the Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that the Trump administration’s process for ending DACA was unlawful. The Supreme Court concluded that the Trump administration had the right to end DACA but did so without following proper procedures, particularly given the reliance interests of DACA recipients.

“It will be important to see the reasoning set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking when it is published to assess the legal viability of eliminating H-4 EADs, because any final rule eliminating H-4 employment authorization could face serious scrutiny under the Administrative Procedure Act,” said Miner. “The Supreme Court’s DACA decision makes clear that an agency cannot simply erase a longstanding policy without a reasoned explanation and meaningful consideration of the legitimate reliance interests it has created. DHS would need to explain why reversing a decade-old policy despite the substantial reliance of families and employers is not arbitrary and capricious.”

Miner believes the immigration rule could have serious ramifications. “The impact would extend well beyond H-4 employees themselves,” he said. “Companies need predictability and stability to make long-term workforce decisions and retain critical talent. This proposal would cause employers to lose experienced H-4 workers while making it more difficult to retain H-1B professionals whose families may reconsider whether they can afford to build their lives and careers in the United States.”