Following up on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Order of February 21, 2018, DHS has requested still more time to review the H-4 EAD Rule.  In a status report filed on February 28, 2018, just a week after the Court’s Order granting DHS’ request to continue to hold the case in abeyance based upon the Department’s assertion that it would issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in February 2018, DHS concluded that it could not meet that deadline.  DHS stated that it “has determined that significant revisions to the draft proposal” are required and that those revisions will require “a new economic analysis.”

DHS now has told the Court that it plans to publish the new Rule in June 2018. How the Court will react to this status report and how this new analysis will affect the Rule’s prospective provisions remain unknown.   In the meantime, those with H-4 EADs and their employers have been waiting for over a year for DHS to make its final move on the Rule and still have no certainty, potentially leaving them considering their options in anticipation of the Rule allowing H-4 EADs being rescinded.