Final Rule Published Increasing Automatic Extension Period of Employment Authorization and/or EADs for Certain Individuals
On Dec. 13, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule to permanently increase the automatic extension period for certain expiring employment authorization and/or Form I-766, Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to up to 540 days. This increase is available to certain renewal applicants who timely file Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization renewal applications. Previously, the EAD auto-extension period of 540 days was based on a temporary final rule published in April 2024.
Agencies should accept EADs, including those that appear on their face to be expired, in the following circumstances:
- The EAD “Card Expires” date has passed, and states an eligible category listed on the Automatic EAD Extension page; and
- The benefit applicant also presents a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, receipt notice for a renewal Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, that states the same eligibility category as the category on the front of the EAD.
- Special instructions for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applicants and certain nonimmigrant spouses:
- Temporary Protected Status applicants: the EAD category codes on the EAD and I-797 do not need to match if one is A12 (TPS approved) and the other is C19 (TPS pending).
- Certain nonimmigrant dependent spouses: the EAD category codes C26, A17, and A18 require an unexpired Form I-94 indicating H-4 (C26), E (A17), and L-2 (A18) nonimmigrant status be presented along with the Form I-797C.
SAVE Verification
As part of initial verification, SAVE can verify employment authorization by using automatically extended EADs. Additional manual verification may be required in limited instances, such as when the benefit applicant’s information does not match federal immigration records. If you need to verify whether this final rule impacts a benefit applicant for whom SAVE previously provided a response, please submit a new SAVE verification request.
The USCIS Automatic EAD Extension page and this USCIS News Alert provide additional information.