When working in the United States, immigrants need to use employment authorization documents. These are often referred to as EADs. Many of these documents need to be approved within 180 days.
However, USCIS – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services – recently decided to extend this deadline. They put out a new temporary final rule (TFR), and it expands the deadline all the way to 540 days for specific documents. While it is true that processing times for EADs are going down, this provides the government with more time to consider the documents.
Why was this an issue?
The problem was that many immigrants needed to have their EADs renewed and they filed the applications, but their employment authorization could lapse before this was done. They would still be waiting on the proper documentation and trying to take all of the correct legal steps, but they could find themselves in a difficult immigration situation simply because the government did not address their EAD in time.
The Director of the USCIS says that the problem on their end is that they have a record number of employment applications. This makes it harder to process and renew these documents. The director did note that the processing times were down thanks to some changes to the system over the last year, but the higher number of applications means that they will still need more time to ensure they get through all of them. To prevent authorization from lapsing, the extension has been automatically applied to these eligible cases.
Your legal options
Immigration law can be very complicated and can have a drastic impact on your future. Be sure you understand all of your legal options and the steps you can take at this time.