Concurrent filing of H1B Amendment, (new) H4 + EAD

USA H1B Visa
1

Hi - Here’s our situation. My wife and I are on H1B visas. However, while I went through the lottery, my wife has a cap-exempt H1B and she has never gone through an H1B lottery. We have approved EB2 I-140 with priority dates in 2016 (me) and 2020 (my wife). But, given that our country of birth is India, we are far from having our priority date current. We are now planning to move to a different city, and my wife is planning to switch from cap-exempt to a cap-subject employer. To facilitate our relocation, I am planning to have my employer file for my H1B amendment (for the relocation to a different city) via premium processing. As part of this application, we are planning to concurrently submit an H4 and EAD application for my wife.

Our questions are:

  1. Are we able to submit H4 and EAD (for the first time) for my wife via my H1B amendment?
  2. Will USCIS process H4 and EAD in the same premium processing time period (15 days)?
  3. Are there any risks in this process/plan?
    Thanks!
2

Yes, make sure you submit H4 & EAD in the same packet as H1B.

This is the trend now for sure for H4. EAD may or may not be processed within 15 days.

None.

3

Thank you @Kalpesh_Dalwadi! Based on article 1 and article 2, seems like USCIS has reached a settlement earlier this year and agreed to process H4 and H4 EAD in the same time-period as the H1 principal, if concurrently filed.

4

Yes, however EAD may take few days more as observed in many cases.

6

Hi, me and my wife are in similar situation;

My wife is on F1 and im on H1B with approved I140; We are planning to relocate to different city (same employer); Can i file my wife’s H4 and H4 EAD together with H1B amendment? And if priority processing applied for H1B, does it applied for the H4 EAD also?

Can you please tell what your experience was regarding this? Were you able to get H4 EAD in 15 days?

7

I know a person who recently got an I-140 approval and he applied for H1b extension along with H4 and wife’s EAD and everything was done via one premium processing fee (H1b).

8

Is it possible to apply for h1b amendment through employer and pay for h4 and h4ead to the lawyer applying h1b personally to be able to file all 3 in a bundle?

9

Yes, in fact most people take this approach.

10

My situation is , I have already filed for H4 EAD in Jan 2024. Now my husband’s employer is ready to file for an H1B amendment due to job location change under premium processing .
My question is can I again file for H4 EAD concurrently with the H1B amendment ?

11

My situation is , I have already filed for H4 EAD in Jan 2024. Now my husband’s employer is ready to file for an H1B amendment due to job location change under premium processing .
My question is can I again file for H4 EAD concurrently with the H1B amendment ?

12

You dont need to. Your previous EAD application can keep processing with no impact. At most USCIS may send RFE to submit copy of the newly approved amended H1B I-797.