DHS Publishes Rule Temporarily Increasing Automatic Extension Period of Employment Authorization and/or EADs for Certain Individuals

On May 4, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a temporary final rule (87 FR 26614) to temporarily increase employment authorization and/or the Form I-766, Employment Authorization Document (EAD) auto-extension period for certain applicants who timely apply to renew their EAD.  Specifically, the rule temporarily increases employment authorization and/or the EAD auto-extension period to a maximum of up to 540 days from the expiration date on their EAD.  Previously, the EAD auto-extension was only up to 180 days.

Documentation

Benefit applicants whose employment authorization and/or EADs are extended up to 540 days will have the following documentation:

• Current EAD or EAD with a “Card Expires” date that has passed and an eligible category; and
• As evidence they timely filed an application to renew their EAD, a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, receipt notice that states an eligibility category that is the same as the eligibility category stated on the front of the EAD except:
  • In the case of an EAD and I-797C, Notice of Action, each may contain either an A12 or C19 category code for Temporary Protected Status (TPS); the category codes do not have to match.
  • For H-4 (C26), E (A17) and L-2 (A18) dependent spouses, whose Form I-797C must be accompanied by an unexpired Form I-94 indicating H-4, E, or L-2 nonimmigrant status. 

Please note that benefit applicants whose Form I-797C notice references the up to 180-day automatic extension period may receive the up to 540-day extension.  In addition, benefit applicants whose employment authorization and/or EAD lapsed following the initial 180-day extension period received an automatic resumption of employment authorization and/or EAD validity if they are within the up to 540-day extension period provided by the new rule.

SAVE Verification

SAVE will generally verify employment authorization or this EAD auto-extension as part of initial verification. Additional verification may be required in limited instances such as when the applicant’s data provided by the user agency does not match federal immigration records.  Please submit a new SAVE verification request if you need to verify whether this rule increased the employment authorization and/or EAD validity period for an applicant for whom SAVE previously provided a response.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Automatic EAD Extension Webpage and temporary final rule (87 FR 26614) provide additional information regarding this change.  Please send any questions or concerns to your SAVE Agency Relationship Manager or SAVE.Help@uscis.dhs.gov.