Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses

You should file Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, to request employment authorization as an H-4 dependent partner. You should obtain an Employment Authorization Document (EAD/Form I-766) from USCIS earlier than it’s possible you’ll start working. Use the latest model of Form I-765 to forestall delays or the necessity for USCIS to challenge you a request for proof.

Carefully observe these steps to forestall your software from being rejected and returned to you:

1. Complete Form I-765 utilizing the Instructions for Form I-765 (PDF, 1.58 MB). USCIS will reject any software that’s not accompanied by the correct submitting charges or signature.
   • If you might be submitting Form I-765 along with Form I-485, you have to specify your eligibility class as (c)(9), not as (c)(26), and pay the Form I-485 submitting price. You wouldn’t have to pay the Form I-765 submitting price. Follow the Form I-485 submitting directions to keep away from processing delays.
   • If you file a Form I-765 along with a Form I-485 on the submitting tackle for Form I-765 class (c)(26), USCIS will reject your Form I-485 and any corresponding charges. Additionally, in the event you included the charges for each varieties on the identical test or cash order, USCIS may reject your Form I-765 for class (c)(26).
2. Submit supporting proof (see chart under). Submitting adequate supporting proof will reduce the chance that USCIS might want to ship you a request for extra proof.

Evidence of… Can be proven by submitting… Your H-4 standing

• A duplicate of your present Form I-797 approval discover for Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status; or
• A duplicate of Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, exhibiting your admission as an H-4 nonimmigrant or your most up-to-date permitted extension of keep.

A government-issued identification doc with photograph

• A duplicate of your final EAD (if any);
• A duplicate of the biometric web page of your passport;
• A beginning certificates with photograph ID;
• A visa issued by a international consulate; or
• A nationwide id doc with photograph.

Your relationship to the H-1B nonimmigrant

• A duplicate of your marriage certificates.

Your foundation for eligibility

1. Evidence that the H-1B nonimmigrant is the principal beneficiary of an permitted Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.

• You could present this by submitting a replica of the approval discover (Form I-797) for the Form I-140 filed for the H-1B nonimmigrant;

OR

1. Evidence that the H-1B nonimmigrant has been admitted or granted an extension of keep underneath AC21 sections 106(a) and (b).

• You could present this by submitting:

1. A duplicate of the H-1B nonimmigrant’s passports, prior Forms I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record), and present and prior Forms I-797 for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker; and

2. Evidence to determine one of many following bases for the H-1B nonimmigrant’s extension of keep.

• Based on Filing of a Permanent Labor Certification Application. Submit proof that the H-1B nonimmigrant is the beneficiary of a Permanent Labor Certification Application that was filed no less than twelve months earlier than the interval of admission licensed underneath AC21 106(a) and (b) begins. You could present this by submitting a replica of a print out from the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) web site or different correspondence from DOL exhibiting the standing of the H-1B nonimmigrant’s Permanent Labor Certification Application. If greater than 180 days have handed since DOL licensed the Permanent Labor Certification Application, additionally submit a replica of Form I-797 Notice of Receipt for Form I-140 establishing that the Form I-140 was filed inside 180 days of such DOL certification;

OR

• Based on a Pending Form I-140. Submit proof that the H-1B nonimmigrant’s Form I-140 was filed no less than twelve months earlier than the interval of admission licensed underneath AC21 106(a) and (b) begins. You could present this by submitting a replica of the Form I-797, Notice of Receipt, for Form I-140.

Examples of Secondary Evidence. If you wouldn’t have any proof referring to the H-1B nonimmigrant as described in “a” or “b” above, it’s possible you’ll ask USCIS to contemplate secondary proof in assist of your software for employment authorization as an H-4 partner. For instance, such data could embody the receipt variety of essentially the most present Form I-129 extension of keep request filed for the H-1B nonimmigrant or the receipt variety of the permitted Form I-140 petition filed for the H-1B nonimmigrant. Failure to supply obligatory details about the H-1B nonimmigrant could end in a delay within the adjudication or denial of your software for employment authorization.

Photos for card manufacturing

• Two similar two-by-two-inch passport-style shade images of your self