Comment Submitted by Anonymous

Docket No. USCIS-2026-0067 RIN 1615-AC98 Re: Clarification of Discretionary Employment Authorization for Certain Aliens, 91 FR 34352 To Whom It May Concern: I am writing to oppose this proposed rule. I am an H-1B visa holder, and my spouse holds an H-4 Employment Authorization Document. This rule would directly affect my spouse's ability to work lawfully in the United States and, by extension, our household's financial stability, and I do not believe the Department has justified the changes it proposes. My central concern is that the rule rewrites 8 CFR 274a.12(c) and 274a.13 so that a single arrest becomes a basis to deny the work permit, even where the charge was dropped, dismissed, resolved through diversion, or later sealed or expunged. An arrest is not proof of wrongdoing, and a dismissal or expungement is supposed to mean the matter is closed. This rule turns a closed, favorable outcome into a permanent mark against a person's ability to earn a living. This is a sharp, unexplained departure from current practice, where the agency weighs the final disposition together with an applicant's work history, tax compliance, and community ties. The proposed rule replaces that balancing with a near-automatic presumption of denial, overcome only by showing a "significant countervailing public interest" that the Department defines almost entirely around assisting law enforcement. Ordinary spouses have no realistic way to make that showing. For H-4 spouses specifically, this compounds burdens that already make it disproportionately hard to find and keep work. Employers routinely pass over candidates whose work authorization is time-limited or renewal-dependent, regardless of qualifications. Adding a discretionary, arrest-based presumption on top of that means an H-4 spouse must now tell a prospective employer that authorization could be denied even after a clean legal outcome. This falls hardest on spouses, disproportionately women, who paused careers to accompany a principal visa holder. The instability extends to the whole family: a denied or delayed renewal can mean loss of a second income, disrupted health coverage, and real strain on children's stability. None of this turns on whether the spouse did anything wrong. I am also concerned about processing times. H-4 EAD renewals already routinely take months, often leaving applicants in a gap after their prior card expires. This rule adds a new discretionary review step to every case, requiring adjudicators to weigh the arrest-based presumption before approval, which will only lengthen an already slow process. That delay carries a direct business cost. When an EAD lapses mid-renewal, the employee cannot legally work until a new card or interim approval issues, and the employer loses that person's output, must shift workload onto others, or must treat the position as vacant. For a small business or a team relying on one specialist, even a short gap can mean missed deadlines or lost client work. A rule that makes renewals slower and less predictable discourages employers from hiring or retaining H-4 EAD holders at all, undermining the purpose of this authorization category. I am also concerned about the requirement that every applicant submit biometrics for every initial and renewal filing, adding cost and delay and a new way for an application to be denied over a missed appointment. Finally, the rule's statement that these decisions are within the sole and unreviewable discretion of the agency leaves applicants with no recourse when a work permit is wrongly denied, compounding the risk of erroneous denials that harm families and businesses alike. For these reasons I urge the Department to withdraw this rule. At minimum, I ask that H-4 spouses under 8 CFR 274a.12(c)(26) be excluded from the criminal history presumption, and that the individualized, totality-of-the-circumstances review currently in place be preserved. Thank you for considering my comment. Respectfully, A concerned H-1B holder and spouse of an H-4 EAD holder Aurora Illinois