Let L-2 And E Spouses Work Without An Employment Authorization Document

Seyfarth Synopsis: This is the second installment in a series of recommendations to the Biden Administration on immigration reform previously published by the Cato Institute in "Deregulating Legal Immigration: A Blueprint for Agency Action." Read the first installment here. A total of five installments will be published on a weekly basis. Please stay tuned for additional updates.

Let L-2 and E Spouses Work without an Employment Authorization Document

USCIS should expressly authorize employment for L-2 and E spouses without requiring the spouse to apply for an employment authorization document.

The L-1 visa category allows multinational companies to transfer certain skilled foreign employees to the United States, such as managers, executives, and skilled workers with specialized knowledge. The E visa allows similar categories of foreign nationals from countries where the United States has "a treaty of commerce and navigation" to carry out substantial