Economics

U.S. Work-Permit Backlog Is Costing Immigrants Their Jobs

Processing times for renewals have shot up at the underfunded Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Maria Eran has been on unpaid leave from her job since January, after her work permit expired.
Photographer: M. Scott Brauer for Bloomberg Businessweek

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By Dara Lind

March 15, 2022 at 10:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the March 21, 2022 issue of businessweek.

Every 15 days, Naina Arora checks a U.S. federal government website to see when she’ll be allowed to work again.

Arora, the wife of an H-1B visa holder, has been on unpaid leave from her job in the operations department of a major health-insurance provider in Pasadena, Calif. since October, when her work permit expired. She had applied for a renewal in advance, assuming it would take something like the three months it had taken her to get her first one in 2019.