Biden extends some immigrant work permits, potentially saving thousands of jobs – By Rafael Bernal (The Hill) / April 4, 2024
The Biden administration on Thursday is announcing an extension of work permits for certain categories of immigrants, potentially preventing hundreds of thousands of people from losing their jobs overnight.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is publishing a temporary final rule in the Federal Register to automatically extend the validity of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) from 180 to 540 days.
That means eligible immigrants whose EADs have expired since Oct. 27 will remain eligible to work for at least another 360 days, while their EAD renewals are processed.
“Over the last year, the USCIS workforce reduced processing times for most EAD categories, supporting an overall goal to improve work access to eligible individuals,” USCIS Director Ur Jaddou said. “However, we also received a record number of employment authorization applications, impacting our renewal mechanisms.”