In this Issue:

- Immigration

- State Round-Up

- Best Practices

- Retaliation

- Employment Discrimination

- Excerpt from Immigration; Spouses of H-1B visa holders will be eligible for work permits:

On February 24, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that beginning on May 26, 2015, it will start accepting applications for work authorization from certain spouses of H-1B visa holders who have begun the process of applying for lawful permanent residence (a Green Card). This regulatory change is part of the Immigration Accountability Executive Action that President Obama announced on November 20, 2014, in order to modernize and improve the U.S. immigration system after the failure of legislative reform efforts last year. Because the regulation allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to obtain work authorization has gone through the normal rulemaking process, it is not affected by a federal court injunction issued on February 16, 2015, blocking other portions of President Obama’s executive action involving the deferral of deportation for certain undocumented immigrants.

Who Is Eligible?

Spouses of H-1B visa holders generally receive H-4 visa status, which does not confer work authorization. On May 26, 2015, the spouse of an H-1B visa holder will be able to apply for work authorization if he or she is in H-4 visa status and his or her H-1B spouse is either the principal beneficiary of an approved employment-based immigrant visa petition (Form I-140) or has received an extension of H-1B status beyond the six-year limit, based on an immigrant visa petition or PERM/labor certification filed at least 365 days before the expiration of the sixth year. (A PERM/ labor certification filing is the first step in obtaining permanent residence through employment.)