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

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.

Instead, the average processing time listed on the website for cases like hers continues to increase—from 5½ ...