From the Desk of: February 24 2015

Sashti Srinivasan, Founder,

www.globalmatri.org

Dear Parents of Brides and Grooms Living the World Over:

This weekend, I want to sharesharesome very important Immigration News update re: H4 Spouses of certain qualifying H1B visa holders, permitting them to seek gainful employment in the U.S., that could favorably help facilitate seeking of matrimonial alliances for your wards: For this update, read the second half of this News Letter.

February 24, 2015 -U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that effective May 26, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is extending eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrants who are seeking employment-based Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status. The DHS has since amended the regulations to allow these H-4 dependent spouses to accept employment in the United States and to work legally in the U.S. with an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) Status.

Eligible individuals include certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrants who:

(1) are the principal beneficiaries of an approved Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker with an H1B transitioning into a GC, of either spouse; or

(2) those who have been granted H-1B status under sections 106(a) and (b) of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 as amended by the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. The Act permits H-1B non-immigrants seeking lawful permanent residence to work and remain in the United States beyond the six-year limit on their H-1B status, when their two (2) 3-year H1B status has ended, transitioning from H1B~GC status.

Under the above rules, eligible H-4 dependent spouses must file Form I-765, Application seeking Employment Authorization, with supporting evidence (meaning employment offer and other pertinent documents) and the required $380 fee in order to obtain employment authorization from USCIS and receive a Form I-766, Employment Authorization Document (EAD).

USCIS will begin accepting applications beginning May 26, 2015. Once USCIS approves the Form I-765 and the H-4 dependent spouse receives an EAD from USCIS, ONLY THEN, he or she may begin working in the United States, NOT until then!

USCIS reminds those potentially eligible that this rule is not considered effective until May 26, 2015. Individuals should not submit an application to USCIS before the effective date, and should avoid anyone who offers to assist in submitting an application to USCIS before the effective date has begun.

It is estimated that as many as 180,000 individuals are eligible to apply for employment authorization under this new rule in the very first year and about 55,000 annually in subsequent years.

We ask all of those brides and grooms in www.globalmatri.org, under the "Status of H1B transitioning into Green Card", to update their profiles showing it as "H1B~GC" to enable the other prospective spouses to seek your alliance with "more optimism and confidence", of NOT HAVING TO RETURN TO INDIA, or to relocate to another country, once the validity of your H1B status expires! Globalmatri.org alone has such a feature built into its website, to show whether you on a straight H1B, H1B~GC, OPT, F1, L1, J1, G4, B1/B2, TN visa, or a Green Card Holder (Permanent Resident) and/or U.S. citizen ~ while all other web portals merely shows everybody as being on "Work Permit" ~ which does not tell you a whole lot, when you want to seek that alliance with confidence and courage! to move forward!

Imagine, if you're a Bride's or a Groom's Parent, sending out an "expression of interest" to another profile, through other web portals, without knowing much about his/her Visa status, and imagine, if he/she is returning back to India, at the end of this year, when his/her H1B is expiring! In sending out that expression of interest, you're totally in dark, not fully knowing how long he/she is likely to be in the U.S. It is like a blind man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat, which is NOT there! Our web portal, www.globalmatri.org allows you to correctly identify your Visa Status and be very focused in your seek and connect