Dreams Uprooted is the urgent story of the inhuman treatment of legal immigrant spouses on the
H-4 visa, mostly South Asian women, who leave behind thriving careers to support their husbands’
“specialty occupation” careers in America.
Once in the US, they have their right to work denied on arrival, and they are stripped of their independence by archaic laws requiring them to depend on their spouses for basic rights such as obtaining a drivers’ license, SSN cards, bank accounts and more.
Revolutionizing themselves from being “dependent spouses” to advocates, they participate in a historic South Asian women’s rights movement that brings work authorization to 100,000 dependent spouses and lands many their dream jobs.
Now, however, they must fight once again to keep their American Dream alive as Trump threatens to revoke their work authorization.
If you wish to share your story of thwarted career due to the visa restrictions via a video, please submit them here:
Dreams Uprooted is one of 11 CAAM supported documentaries in 2020
Please take this survey to add your valuable inputs about being on H4/EAD visa, Thank You!
Contribute, it's tax deductible. A film that will bring awareness to the struggles of thousands of immigrants and mobilizes change.
We are in early production and looking for more stories of women who are continuing to pursue their dreams despite all challenges.
This project is directed and produced by Meghna Damani, herself a previous H-4 wife, who has been empowering and mobilizing he H-4 immigrant community for over a decade with outreach via her autobiographical film Hearts Suspended
Please send any questions you have to Meghna at: .
News on H4 EAD
The revoking of H4EAD will have serious consequences for these women will go back to a life without a future. “The families of H-1 and H-4 holders will be hit financially as many have purchased homes trying to build a life for themselves. The impact on their domestic life and children is often overlooked with the focus on their economic and financial situation, but it is a very important aspect as being isolated and unemployed has life-long adverse effects on mental health, causing disharmony that impacts not only the family here but also the family back in India,” says Damani.
CNBC 18
Lavina Melwani
Doctors, teachers and entrepreneurs on H-4 visas fear losing their businesses and jobs
CNN Money
Parija Kavilanz
Housewife Visas and Highly Skilled Immigrant Families in the U.S.