Nehal is 30 years old and owns a house with her husband in North Arlington, New Jersey. She has a Masters degree in Computer Science and a job in Manhattan that she loves. However, like some other highly-educated immigrants from India, she's thinking of moving to Canada.
"Even if I don't want it, I have to," she said, "because I don't have any choice."
Nehal didn't want to give her full name because her immigration status is now at risk. She has what's called an H-4 Employment Authorization Document, or H-4 E.A.D. It's mostly granted to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, like her husband.
The Trump administration has indicated it's reviewing this program, which began under President Obama, and may cancel it. That would affect around 100,000 people nationwide, many of whom are highly-educated.
Michael Bars, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said, "The agency is considering a number of policy and regulatory changes to carry out the President’s Buy American, Hire American Executive Order, including a thorough review of employment based visa programs. USCIS is focused on safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system and ensuring its faithful execution and adherence to the laws designed to protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers."
Nehal hopes the administration will finally maintain the program, but the uncertainty is causing her and her husband a lot of stress. They delayed their plans to have kids. One of her friends, also an H-4 E.A.D. holder and a former resident of New Jersey, already departed with her family for Canada last year.
"They feel really bad leaving this country," she said.
While the administration is pushing to protect U.S. workers, Jeremy Robbins, executive director of New American Economy said canceling the H-4 E.A.D. program would result in more job losses than job creations.
"Right now there are 12 open STEM jobs for every unemployed STEM worker," he said, pointing to a recent study, "so it's not realistic that these workers are just replaceable."