H4 EAD - A blessing for talented, highly educated spouses from US Universities working in esoteric fields
Dear Sir/Ma'am,
I write to you today as a worried H4-EAD recipient, who is genuinely worried about the future of her career and investments here in the US.
I was invited to the US 10 years back to get a PhD in Ocean Sciences which would then entail a collaboration between Indian and US research collaborations. I was fully funded throughout my education and successfully completed my PhD in 2013. After moving here to the Bay Area, I continued working as a researcher at Stanford on my F1 EAD. Post completion, I decided to switch gears into education as that is something I genuinely wanted to do. Having the flexibility of F1 EAD greatly helped me in taking up opportunities with leading institutions such as UC Berkeley.
After my F1-OPT EAD ended, I was at home jobless for 6 months due to lack of visa eligibility, while several institutions like Stanford offered me to work. I am eternally thankful to the H4 EAD rule that I got my EAD in 2016 and since then I have worked tirelessly in Environmental Science Education and Management with path breaking programs such as Level Playing Field Institute and Stanford's Pre-Collegiate Institute. I also teach Science at a community college and it is only due to the flexibility in the visa that I can select the opportunities that further my cause - to impart Environmental Science Education to talented high schoolers and undergraduates in America. All these opportunities arise because there is a dire shortage of highly skilled educators such as myself in the community college and in leading institutions such as Stanford.
I consider it my privilege that I was able to work in my chosen field and free lance to find the best fit for my interests and cause. Both my husband and I have made investments here in the US thinking that we will be able to support them with our jobs. Taking away H4-EAD is going to be a huge blow to our careers and my mission to educate the upcoming future generations.
Please consider the consequences that would cause several highly educated and skilled individuals as us to drop their missions. H4 EAD could become more skill and education based as compared to just the H1B - I140 approved criteria.
Thanks,
A genuinely concerned H4 EAD holder
I write to you today as a worried H4-EAD recipient, who is genuinely worried about the future of her career and investments here in the US.
I was invited to the US 10 years back to get a PhD in Ocean Sciences which would then entail a collaboration between Indian and US research collaborations. I was fully funded throughout my education and successfully completed my PhD in 2013. After moving here to the Bay Area, I continued working as a researcher at Stanford on my F1 EAD. Post completion, I decided to switch gears into education as that is something I genuinely wanted to do. Having the flexibility of F1 EAD greatly helped me in taking up opportunities with leading institutions such as UC Berkeley.
After my F1-OPT EAD ended, I was at home jobless for 6 months due to lack of visa eligibility, while several institutions like Stanford offered me to work. I am eternally thankful to the H4 EAD rule that I got my EAD in 2016 and since then I have worked tirelessly in Environmental Science Education and Management with path breaking programs such as Level Playing Field Institute and Stanford's Pre-Collegiate Institute. I also teach Science at a community college and it is only due to the flexibility in the visa that I can select the opportunities that further my cause - to impart Environmental Science Education to talented high schoolers and undergraduates in America. All these opportunities arise because there is a dire shortage of highly skilled educators such as myself in the community college and in leading institutions such as Stanford.
I consider it my privilege that I was able to work in my chosen field and free lance to find the best fit for my interests and cause. Both my husband and I have made investments here in the US thinking that we will be able to support them with our jobs. Taking away H4-EAD is going to be a huge blow to our careers and my mission to educate the upcoming future generations.
Please consider the consequences that would cause several highly educated and skilled individuals as us to drop their missions. H4 EAD could become more skill and education based as compared to just the H1B - I140 approved criteria.
Thanks,
A genuinely concerned H4 EAD holder
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