Starting August 29, several news outlets reported that the Trump administration plans to end work permits for H-4 spouses. If you're the spouse of an H-1B holder and have an EAD, that sounds frightening.
The bottom line first: as of today, nothing official has been issued.
Update (September 7, 2026): We've confirmed which tier this agenda entry is in. It is listed under "Long-Term Actions," which, by the agenda's own definition, means the agency does not expect to take action within the next 12 months; the entry lists the proposed rule date as "To Be Determined." We are also correcting the year of the previous attempt given in the September 5 version; see below. The conclusion hasn't changed: there are zero documents in the Federal Register, and your EAD is valid today as usual.
Update (September 5, 2026): It has appeared on the agenda. When this article was published on August 30, it said "it's in none of the three places." Now it's in one of them: the Department of Homeland Security has listed this in the 2026 Unified Agenda under number 1615-AD14.
Where things officially stand
When a rule actually gets moving, it first leaves a trace in one of three places: the White House (OIRA) review records, the agency's Unified Agenda, or the Federal Register. Right now the status is one yes, two no's:
| Where | Is it there? |
|---|---|
| The agency's Unified Agenda | Yes, number 1615-AD14, listed in the Long-Term Actions tier of the 2026 agenda |
| White House (OIRA) review records | No |
| Federal Register | No, a search by this number returns 0 documents |
The agenda is the earliest and least certain link in this chain. It means "the agency intends to do this," not that it has started. Entries on the Unified Agenda may not move for months, or may never move at all.
The agenda itself defines what this tier means. The introduction to the 2026 Unified Agenda (published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2026) says:
Long-Term Actions — items under development but for which the agency does not expect to have a regulatory action within the 12 months after publication of this edition of the Unified Agenda.
In other words, putting a rule in this tier amounts to the agency itself saying it does not expect to take action within the next 12 months. The proposed rule date field in the entry also reads "To Be Determined."
The last time around, the same idea had a different number, 1615-AC15, with an almost word-for-word identical title. It first appeared on the Unified Agenda in January 2018, then showed up in 8 consecutive editions of the agenda, always sitting at the "Proposed Rule Stage." It was withdrawn on August 25, 2021, without any proposed rule ever being published. (Searching the Federal Register by that number returns 11 documents, and all 11 are the Unified Agenda itself.)
The difference in tiers is worth a look: AC15 sat at the Proposed Rule Stage, meaning action was expected within 12 months; AD14 today sits in Long-Term Actions, meaning action is not expected within 12 months. This entry is starting out further back than where the last one ended up.
This is a new number, not a continuation of the old one.
(The September 5 version of this article said "the last attempt was in 2019." That year was wrong: AC15 first appeared on the agenda in January 2018.)
So here's where things stand: there is intent, but no document. Your H-4 EAD is fully valid today, and no rule in effect has changed that.
What could happen
If it really does move forward, the order of steps is fixed: first it goes to the White House for review; once cleared, a proposed rule is published in the Federal Register; then comes a 30- to 60-day public comment period; the agency considers the comments and publishes a final rule; and only then does it take effect.
Historically, going from start to finish has taken anywhere from a few months to more than a year, and some rules never make it to the end.
For comparison, take this August's rule adding a $103,000 fee to H-1B: it cleared White House review on August 19, was published on August 25, and its comment period runs through September 24. There is still no final rule.
Clearing up one easy mix-up
The Federal Register contains a proposed rule published on June 5, number 1615-AC98, titled "Clarification of Discretionary Employment Authorization for Certain Aliens," which sounds very similar.
It has nothing to do with H-4. The text covers parolees, people granted deferred action, and people released under supervision; it never mentions H-4 or H-1B.
Here's a quick way to check claims yourself: when you see something like "the new H-4 EAD rule says...," just ask what the number is. A proposed rule has a RIN, the Federal Register has document numbers, and White House review has a record number. If none of the three can be produced, those "details" have no source.
What you should do now
Nothing. If the time to worry ever comes, the signal will be clear: a proposed rule numbered 1615-AD14 appears in the Federal Register. Until then, the agenda entry by itself doesn't change anyone's work authorization.
Don't change your plans based on a rule that doesn't exist yet. Decisions like quitting a job, ending a lease or selling a house shouldn't rest on news reports with no document behind them.
There is one thing that's always worth doing, though: check when your current EAD expires. That has nothing to do with this report, but renewals need to be lined up in advance.
We're watching
We've been monitoring the White House review records since August 28. They are the only public trace of a rule while it's under review, usually two or three weeks ahead of the news.
As soon as it enters review or appears in the Federal Register, we'll add an update line at the top of this page with the date and number. Until then, this page stays at "news reports, no documents."
One email when a tracked policy actually moves — into White House review, into the Federal Register, or withdrawn. You will also get the monthly bulletin. Unsubscribe anytime.