Employment Authorization Allowed for "L" & "E" Spouses
Posted Jan 25, 2002

On January 16, 2002, the President signed two bills into law that will allow for employment authorization for spouses of persons with L (Intra-company Transferee) and E (treaty trader and treaty investor) status. Previously, in the MurthyBulletin and on MurthyDotCom, in our article entitled, Senate Bills Authorize Employment for "E" and "L" Spouses, we reported that bills had passed both the House and the Senate with respect to this issue.

Regarding spouses of persons with L and E status, the legislation states, "the Attorney General shall authorize the alien spouse to engage in employment in the United States and provide the spouse with 'employment authorized' endorsement or other appropriate work permit." Accordingly, the employment is not authorized without some additional documentation. Therefore, the L and E spouses cannot begin work until the INS issues either regulations or an advisement regarding the appropriate employment authorization documentation and the method to apply for that documentation.

We do not yet know what procedure will be required of spouses of the L and E holders. The process possibly could be the same as it is for spouses of persons with J-1 status (J-2s), who must apply for an employment authorization document (EAD) with the INS. We will continue to follow this important issue and provide updates via the MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom as it is clarified.

We remind our readers that there can be serious, long-term immigration consequences to unauthorized employment. Therefore, until the proper documentation can be obtained, the spouses of the L and E holders will need to wait to rejoin the workforce.