BREAKING: Obama Administration Just Made MAJOR Immigration Rule Change

February 24, 2015 2:10 pm

Early Tuesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a major rule change in its immigration policy at the direction of President Obama.

As a part of Obama’s executive orders announced in November, the new rule change allows the spouses of certain non-U.S. citizens who possess visas to be eligible to work in the United States. The director of the USCIS, Leon Rodriguez, said the move is an effort to make it easier for H-1B visa holders to be able to stay in the country and work without having to worry about the status of their spouses.

“Allowing the spouses of these visa holders to legally work in the United States makes perfect sense,” Rodríguez said in a statement. “It helps U.S. businesses keep their highly skilled workers by increasing the chances these workers will choose to stay in this country during the transition from temporary workers to permanent residents. It also provides more economic stability and better quality of life for the affected families.”

The USCIS, which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security, said that it estimates roughly 179,600 non-citizens will be eligible under the rule change in the first year. In subsequent years it expects around 55,000 additional applicants.

The USCIS defended the rule change by saying that it would likely help improve the economy overall, despite the fact that critics of Obama’s executive order have said that such changes would hurt Americans who are looking for jobs.

“The change should also support the U.S. economy because the contributions H-1B nonimmigrants make to entrepreneurship and science help promote economic growth and job creation,” the statement said, while noting that it would bring America’s immigration laws “more in line” with the laws of other countries trying to compete for “similar highly skilled workers.”

The USCIS said that the change won’t occur until May 26, 2015.

Read more: Mad World News