Immigration lawyers urged caution on a new proposal that will prove to be extremely challenging for migrant workers in the US, as the new rule says any arrest will get the Employment Authorization Document denied. The arrest could be a traffic arrest or an arrest by mistake with no conviction but it would be considered as a ground to deny a work permit. This is for OPT, STEM OPT, H4 visa holders and not H-1B visa holders, as H-1B visa holders do not work on an EAD.Immigration attorney Emily Neumann said there is still time to comment on the proposed regulation. “Even if you are arrested for something, it does not have to be something major; it can be a reason for EAD denial. There are a lot of people who have arrests in their background who were not found guilty, who did not commit the crime,” Neumann said, adding that August 4 is the last date for commenting on the proposed rule.Immigration attorney Rahul Reddy pointed out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio also got arrested when he was 18 for drinking beer in a public park after it had closed. Years later, when he was contesting for office, the issue cropped up, and Rubio’s campaign said he was necer taken into custody and never had to hire any lawyer.But such an arrest will get EADs canceled for visa holders now.
What does the new proposal say?
The proposal says: The Department of Homeland Security proposes to limit and clarify eligibility for discretionary employment authorization for aliens paroled into the United States temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit, who have been granted deferred action, or against whom a final order of removal exists and who are temporarily released from custody on an order of supervision. DHS further proposes to specify that aliens applying for employment authorization who admit to committing, have been arrested for, or have been convicted of certain criminal acts do not warrant a favorable exercise of discretion unless there are significant countervailing public interests, which may include assisting law enforcement activity in the United States.
