Waiting to work: employment among dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders in the U.S.

ABSTRACT

In 2015, the Obama administration eased the rules regarding employment for accompanying spouses of some temporary foreign workers who hold an H-1B visa. The policy change allowed some spouses of H-1B visa holders who were in the queue for a permanent resident visa to work. This study uses data from the National Survey of College Graduates to examine the impact of the policy change on employment rates among dependent spouses of temporary visa holders. The results indicate that the policy change increased their employment rate substantially.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrants
• H-1B visa
• spouse
• dependent visa

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• J15
• J61

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the author upon reasonable request.

Notes

¹ See, for example, https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/Characteristics_of_Specialty_Occupation_Workers_H-1B_Fiscal_Year_2020.pdf.

² Among married temporary visa holders other than dependent visa holders, three-quarters have a work visa and one-fifth have a student/trainee visa in the NSCG, suggesting that most dependent visa holders are married to work visa holders. State Department data on nonimmigrant visa issuances indicate that H-1B visas are the most common type of skilled temporary work visa; the study discusses below other skilled temporary work visas that allow spouses to work.

³ The study uses the public use version of the NSCG and therefore cannot exploit the panel data available for some respondents.

⁴ Only estimates for the variable of interest are shown; other estimates available on request.