A Sliver of Relief: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds H-4 Work Visa Rights, Ending Decade-Long Legal Battle

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to work authorization for H-4 visa holders on October 14, 2025, effectively ending a decade-long legal battle and preserving employment rights for hundreds of thousands of spouses of H-1B workers.

The Court’s decision not to review Save Jobs USA v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 24-923, leaves intact a 2024 D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to grant work permits to certain H-4 visa holders under a 2015 Obama administration rule.

“In some ways, it is good news, as it removes the uncertainty of the court invalidating the H-4 employment authorization, which is used by a substantial number of highly educated spouses of H-1B professionals—estimated to be around at least 300,000,” said Johnson Myalil, a Washington, D.C.-based immigration attorney.

The H-4 Work Authorization Program

H-4 visas are issued to dependent family members—spouses and children—of H-1B specialty occupation workers, a category widely used in technology, healthcare, research, and other sectors. Prior to 2015, H-4 visa holders were not authorized to work in the United States, leaving many highly educated professionals unable to pursue careers while their spouses waited years, sometimes decades, in the green card backlog.

The change took effect in May 2015 and was met with enthusiasm from the immigrant community. According to Reddy Neumann Brown PC, the vast majority of H-4 Employment Authorization Document (EAD) holders have been women, largely from green card backlog countries. With work authorization, H-4 visa holders have been able to find jobs, start businesses, and use their education and talents—in many cases contributing to fields like technology, research, healthcare, and finance.

Since the rule was enacted, more than 258,000 H-4 visa holders have received work authorization, according to DHS data cited by Newsweek. Last year alone, more than 25,000 H-4 holders received work authorization under the 2015 rule, according to Business Today.

A Decade of Legal Challenges

No sooner had the H-4 EAD rule been enacted than it faced legal opposition. In April 2015, Save Jobs USA, an organization of American tech workers, filed a lawsuit against DHS to overturn the new rule, arguing that allowing H-4 spouses to work would create unfair competition and threaten U.S. workers’ job opportunities.

Save Jobs USA maintained that DHS exceeded its statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act by extending employment authorization to a visa class not explicitly authorized by Congress to work. In their petition to the Supreme Court, the group argued that “the power to define which classes of aliens may work in the United States is vested in Congress, not the administrative state,” according to Newsweek.

John Miano, counsel for Save Jobs USA and an attorney with the Immigration Reform Law Institute, claimed in the group’s filing that “DHS reversed its earlier interpretation with the H-4 Rule and began allowing certain spouses of H-1B nonimmigrant workers to be employed, despite no such directive in the statute,” Business Standard reported.

The Supreme Court’s decision brings a measure of certainty to thousands of immigrant families who have lived in limbo during the prolonged litigation.

The petitioners also claimed there was a circuit split requiring Supreme Court review. However, the government responded that Save Jobs USA lacked legal standing to challenge the H-4 EAD rule, and that no genuine circuit split existed. According to Newsweek, the appeals court said that a related 2022 decision upholding a work-authorization program for foreign students “squarely forecloses” the challenge to the H-4 rule.

The petitioners hoped the Supreme Court would revisit the issue following its 2024 ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which eliminated the “Chevron deference” doctrine that had required courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations. However, the justices left the D.C. Circuit’s decision in place.

Relief for Immigrant Families

The Supreme Court’s decision brings a measure of certainty to thousands of immigrant families who have lived in limbo during the prolonged litigation. For many H-4 holders—often highly educated professionals themselves—the ability to work has been transformative.

“Allowing H-4 spouses to work helps U.S. companies retain top global talent,” Austin Fragomen, founding partner of Fragomen, told Forbes, as reported by Newsweek. He added that limiting such rights “would push skilled families to competing economies. The last thing employers want is a new policy that makes it more challenging to hire or retain talent.”

Work authorization has been especially meaningful for women, many of whom hold advanced degrees but were previously restricted from employment. According to Business Standard, many H-4 holders have since taken jobs at leading companies, started businesses, and contributed to the American economy.

As American Bazaar Online notes, H-4 visa holders are often stuck in decades-long green card backlogs, making work authorization critical to family stability and economic security during the lengthy wait for permanent residency.

Uncertainty Remains

Despite the legal victory, immigration attorneys caution that the program’s future remains uncertain and dependent on political will.

“Absolutely not,” immigration attorney Nandini Nair of A.Y. Strauss, LLC, told American Bazaar Online when asked whether the decision lifts the weight of uncertainty for H-4 EAD holders. “While the Supreme Court declined review this time, a different administration could still attempt to rescind the rule through regulatory means.”

Johnson Myalil echoed this concern: “We cannot rule out the possibility that immigration restriction advocates in the Trump administration may push for the cancellation of H-4 EAD through the federal rulemaking process,” he said, according to American Bazaar Online. However, he noted a silver lining: “That process can take several years.”

The Trump administration had previously attempted to terminate the H-4 EAD program. According to Adhikari Law PLLC, the first Trump administration proposed a rule seeking to terminate the H-4 EAD program, but that proposal was not completed and the Biden administration later dropped that plan.

Broader Immigration Context

The H-1B visa program, created in 1990, allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations such as engineering, medicine, and research. As part of the program, employers must demonstrate that they have attempted to hire American workers and must pay foreign workers the same wages as their American counterparts, according to Business Today. While the program offers 65,000 visas annually, it also allocates an additional 20,000 for individuals with advanced degrees.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes at a time of heightened political debate over employment-based immigration, with tech companies and immigration advocates praising the outcome while critics maintain that the rule undermines job opportunities for American workers.

As Reddy Neumann Brown PC observes, restricting H-4 spousal work authorization “undermines U.S. competitiveness, disrupts family stability, and discourages top global talent from committing to long-term careers in the United States.”

Some lawmakers from both parties have suggested codifying H-4 EAD eligibility through legislation, which would remove the issue from the ebb and flow of executive policy, according to Reddy Neumann Brown PC.

A Cautious Victory

For now, the Supreme Court’s decision offers temporary stability to H-4 visa holders and their families. As American Bazaar Online reported, when the news broke on Tuesday morning, many H-4 EAD holders saw it as a moment of victory, with congratulations exchanged across expat platforms.

But as Reddy Neumann Brown PC notes, “while Trump 2.0 brings renewed challenges, the H-4 EAD today stands on firmer legal and institutional ground than at any point in its history.”

The outcome, as International Business Times observed, “not only reinforces the rights of H-1B families but also signals judicial restraint in the face of politically charged immigration policies.”

For the estimated 300,000 H-4 visa holders currently authorized to work in the United States—many of them Indian nationals who make up a large portion of the H-1B workforce—the Supreme Court’s decision provides relief from years of legal uncertainty, even as questions about the program’s long-term future persist.

This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.