WASHINGTON — To further add to extensive modernization efforts that have streamlined and improved access to work permits for eligible noncitizens, USCIS today announced a temporary final rule (TFR) to increase the automatic extension period for certain employment authorization documents (EAD) from a maximum of 180 days to a maximum of 540 days. This announcement continues improvements that have significantly reduced EAD processing times over the past year.
The temporary measure announced today is expected to prevent disruptions in employment authorization and/or documentation for certain non-citizens who have pending EAD renewal applications and stabilize continuity of operations for U.S. employers. This is the latest step by the Biden-Harris Administration to add work-authorized people to the workforce, supporting the economies in which they live.
“Over the past year, the USCIS workforce reduced processing times for most EAD categories, supporting the overall goal of improving access to work for eligible individuals. However, we also received a record number of employment authorization applications, which affected our renewal mechanisms,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “Temporarily extending the existing automatic extension up to 540 days will avoid lapses in employment authorizations. At the same time, this rule will provide DHS an additional window to consider long-term solutions by soliciting public comments and identifying new strategies to ensure that noncitizens eligible for employment authorization can maintain that benefit.”
This TFR aligns with an ongoing USCIS effort to support employment-authorized individuals' access to work. USCIS has reduced EAD processing times overall and streamlined adjudication processing, including:
- Halve EAD processing times for individuals with pending green card applications from fiscal year 2021 to date;
- Processing a record number of EAD applications in the last year, surpassing previous years;
- Collaborate with communities to educate work-eligible people who did not access the process and provide support in the area for the admission of applications;
- Reduce the processing time of EADs for asylum seekers and certain temporary stay permit holders to less than or equal to an average of 30 days;
- Extend the validity period of the EAD for certain categories from 2 to 5 years;
- Streamline the process for refugee EADs, and
- Expand the online submission of EAD to asylum applications and people with temporary stay permits.
This temporary measure will apply to any eligible applicant who has timely and correctly submitted an EAD renewal application as of October 27, 2023, if the application is still pending on the date of publication in the Federal Register. The temporary final rule will also apply to EAD renewal applicants who timely and adequately file their Form I-765 application during a 540-day period beginning with publication of the rule in the Federal Register.
Without this measure, nearly 800,000 EAD renewal applicants, including those eligible for employment authorization as asylees or asylum seekers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applicants or recipients, and Green Card applicants, would be at risk of experiencing a disruption in their employment authorization and approximately 60,000 to 80,000 employers would be negatively affected as a result of such a lapse. EADs are generally valid for the duration of the authorized temporary leave to remain period. This TFR does not extend the duration of the temporary stay permit.
From May 12, 2023 to March 13, 2024, DHS has removed more than 617,000 people, the vast majority of whom crossed the southwest border, including more than 97,000 individual family members. Most people found on the southwest border over the past three years have been removed, returned or expelled. Total removals and returns since mid-May exceed removals and returns in every full fiscal year since 2011.
As part of this temporary final rule, USCIS is soliciting public comments that would inform potential future regulatory actions. For more information, visit our Automatic Employment Authorization Document Extension page.