The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently introduced a temporary final rule (TFR) that continues the significant modernization efforts aimed at simplifying the process for immigrants to obtain work permits. The TFR extends the period of certain employment authorization documents (EADs) from the standard 180 days to 540 days, providing relief to eligible individuals. This extension follows improvements made over the past year that have considerably reduced the processing times for EADs.
The purpose of this temporary measure, announced on Thursday, is to prevent work-authorized noncitizens from experiencing gaps in their employment authorization and documentation while awaiting USCIS adjudication of their pending EAD renewal applications. This measure aims to ensure seamless operations for US employers. This initiative aligns with the Biden Administration’s efforts to facilitate the integration of work-authorized individuals into the workforce, thus supporting the economies of their respective communities.
This significant development, particularly beneficial to South Asian immigrants, originated from a recommendation by Ajay Bhutoria, an Advisor to President Biden on the White House Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Commission. Bhutoria’s persistent advocacy efforts, focused on immigration reforms and reduction of green card backlogs, have positively impacted over 1 million South Asians. Previously, Bhutoria’s recommendations to the White House AANHPI Commission led to the implementation of a pilot program by the State Department enabling H1B visa domestic renewal stamping within the USA.
The USCIS announcement underscores the influence of community advocacy and collaborative efforts in shaping policies that directly affect immigrant communities. According to USCIS Director Ur M Jaddou, the USCIS workforce has made significant progress in reducing processing times for most EAD categories over the past year, aligning with the overarching goal of enhancing work access for eligible individuals. However, the agency has also experienced a surge in employment authorization applications, impacting renewal mechanisms. The temporary extension of automatic EAD extensions to 540 days aims to prevent lapses in employment authorizations while allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to explore long-term solutions through public comments and innovative strategies.
The main beneficiaries of this change will be asylum seekers and foreign nationals applying for permanent residency. A USCIS spokesperson indicated that up to 800,000 immigrants faced the risk of job loss and overall work permit expiration if the new regulation had not been implemented. This move will also benefit USCIS, which has been actively rebuilding its processing capacity following shifts in focus during the previous administration, which hindered its ability to make timely decisions.
This extension to 540 days is the second time the Biden administration has implemented such a measure. The initial extension, declared in 2022, ended on October 27, 2023, reverting automatic extensions back to 180 days. The new extension encompasses all immigrant categories covered by the 2022 extension.