The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider a long-running challenge to a federal rule allowing some spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States, leaving intact a 2024 appellate ruling upholding the legality of the program.
News week contacted immigration attorneys for comment via email after hours Wednesday.
Why it matters
The Supreme Court’s decision to leave in place a rule allowing certain spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States preserves a key source of economic and family stability for thousands of immigrant households and the employers who depend on them.
By refusing to hear a challenge from a group representing displaced U.S. tech workers, the justices effectively affirmed the government’s authority to grant work authorization to H-4 visa holders — a policy critical to retaining highly skilled talent in a tightening labor market.
The outcome provides relief to families facing long delays in obtaining green cards and provides rare continuity in a politically charged area of immigration law that affects both the U.S. workforce and the country’s global competitiveness.
What you need to know
In an order issued Monday, the justices rejected a petition from Save Jobs USA, a group representing American technology workers, which claimed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) exceeded its authority in granting work authorization to H-4 visa holders dependent on H-1B skilled workers.
The Court did not provide an explanation for its decision, in accordance with its usual practice.
Nearly a decade of legal challenges ends
The denial marks the end of nearly a decade of litigation that began after the Obama administration adopted the “Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses” rule in 2015.
The regulation allows spouses of H-1B workers seeking permanent residency to obtain work authorization.
DHS estimated at the time that about 180,000 people would benefit in the first year and about 55,000 per year thereafter.
Save Jobs USA’s petition, filed in August 2024, asked the Court to determine whether DHS could “grant work authorization to categories of nonimmigrants for whom Congress has refused to grant work authorization.”
The group argued that the agency’s interpretation of immigration law “creates a separate immigration system that overturns the one put in place by Congress.”
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals previously rejected this argument, finding in Save Jobs USA v. US Department of Homeland Security this federal law gave DHS the authority to authorize the employment of nonimmigrants in limited circumstances.
The appeals court said a related 2022 decision upholding a work authorization program for foreign students “flatly precludes” the challenge to Rule H-4.
Although the petitioners hoped that the Supreme Court would revisit the issue after its 2024 ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo— which eliminated the “Chevron deference” doctrine that required courts to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations — the justices left the D.C. Circuit ruling in place.
Immigration attorneys said the outcome brings clarity to thousands of families facing long green card backlogs.
A victory for families, a debate for policy makers
According to DHS data, more than 258,000 H-4 visa holders have received work authorization since the rule took effect.
Advocates for immigrant professionals say the ability of spouses — often themselves highly educated — to work helps retain skilled workers in the U.S. economy.
Austin Fragomen, the firm’s founding partner, said Forbes that allowing H-4 spouses to work “helps U.S. companies retain the world’s best talent” and that limiting these rights “would push qualified families into competing economies. The last thing employers want is a new policy that makes it harder to hire or retain talent.”
Critics, however, argue that the rule undermines employment opportunities for American workers. John Miano, an attorney for Save Jobs USA and an attorney at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, argued in the group’s filing that “the power to define which categories of aliens can work in the United States rests with Congress, not the administrative state.”
Immigration policy and future political issues
The Supreme Court’s decision comes at a time of intensifying political debate over employment-based immigration.
On September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump proposed a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications, while the Biden administration defended existing visa categories as essential to U.S. competitiveness in the technology and research sectors.
Under the H-1B program, created in 1990, American companies can hire foreign professionals in specialized trades for three to six years.
Employers must certify that they pay prevailing wages and have first attempted to recruit U.S. workers. The program is capped at 85,000 new visas per year.
For H-1B families, Monday’s ruling represents a respite amid political uncertainty. “The Supreme Court’s inaction leaves the status quo intact,” Mehta said. “This means that qualified spouses can continue to work, businesses retain critical talent, and Congress still holds the power to legislate any changes it deems necessary.”
What people say
Cyrus D. Mehta, a New York-based immigration attorney and assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School, said: “Despite the gutting of Chevron deference, courts need not rely on an agency’s interpretation of an INA provision in order to provide noncitizens with work authorization…because these statutory provisions are not ambiguous in the first place.”
Jennifer Minear, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), said in a class action lawsuit: “The delays faced by H-4 and L-2 nonimmigrants unnecessarily place families in financial limbo. DHS has the legal tools and authority to grant work authorization to affected individuals whose financial security is at stake.”
Jesse bless, Director of Federal Litigation at AILAadded: “The process of obtaining work authorization should not put families at risk of immense loss of income and instability. There are reasonable and immediate steps that DHS can take to ensure that visa holders meet the requirements without imposing unnecessary suffering.”
What happens next
The Supreme Court refusing to hear Save Jobs USA v. DHSThe DC Circuit’s decision upholding work authorization for certain spouses of H-1B visa holders remains in effect, ending the legal challenge.
The decision ensures continued employment rights for thousands of H-4 visa holders and provides near-term stability for skilled immigrant families and their employers. The Biden administration is expected to maintain this policy, although a future administration could try to roll it back through new rules.
Legally, the outcome strengthens the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to grant limited work rights under existing visa programs, although long-term uncertainty persists in the absence of immigration reform in Congress.
