March 1, 2002
INS Guidance on Employment Authorization for Spouses of E and L Visa
Holders and Blanket L Visa Petitions
As reported earlier on Greenberg Traurig’s Immigration website, the President
recently signed into law two new pieces of legislation which amend the Immigration
and Nationality Act ("INA") by authorizing the employment of spouses of
E-1 treaty traders, E-2 treaty investors, and L-1 intracompany transferees,
as well as reducing the amount of pre-employment an alien needs to qualify
under a Blanket L from one year to six months.
William Yates, Deputy Executive Associate Commissioner of the INS, recently
issued a memo providing guidance on the INS’s implementation of these new
laws. This memo is immediately effective. The memo states that in order
to obtain employment authorization, an individual must apply for an Employment
Authorization Document ("EAD") by filing a Form I-765 with the Service Center
having jurisdiction over the individual’s place of residence. However, if
a person concurrently files an I-129 requesting dependent E-1 or E-2 status
and an I-765 requesting an EAD, they must file this application at either
the California or Texas Service Center.
The individual must provide documentation proving their marriage to an
E or L principal alien, and documentation proving their status as a dependent
E or L and their spouse’s principal E or L status. This documentation will
normally consist of copies of a certificate of marriage, approval notices
and I-94 cards. Dependent spouses will be authorized for employment for
the period of admission and/or status of their spouses, not to exceed two
years. The applications for employment authorization are supposed to be
processed within 90 days.
The memo also covers implementation of the new law reducing the amount
of pre-employment an individual needs under a Blanket L visa petition. The
law amended the INA by adding a new sentence which states that the one year
period of continuous employment with the related foreign entity required
under such section is reduced to a 6 month period of the importing employer
has filed a blanket petition and met the requirements for expedited processing
of aliens covered under the petition. The guidance states that this new
standard should be applied to any currently pending petitions.
Copy of Memo (PDF/787 kb, 4 pages)
|