USCIS May Extend Validity of EADs
Posted Mar 26, 2004

An interim final rule has been pending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since earlier this month (March 2004) that would permit the USCIS to grant Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for a longer duration than the current one-year limit. Because the regulation remains at the OMB, a copy is not yet publicly available. We, at this time therefore, can neither confirm whether all EADs or only certain EADs will be affected, nor what the maximum length of time may be. William R. Yates, Associate Director of Operations for USCIS spoke on the issue on March 5, 2004. He indicated that the proposed interim final rule would make the EADs valid for up to two years, depending on the processing times of the issuing USCIS District Office or Service Center. Various attorneys, through the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and other organizations, had been requesting the USCIS to issue EADs with longer durations based on the ever-increasing processing times for I-485 applications. We are pleased that EADs valid for a longer time may now, finally, become a reality.

The OMB received the rule from USCIS on March 3, 2004. We expect the OMB to complete its review between now and June 3, 2004. If the OMB does not find any significant issues with the regulation, it will be published in the Federal Register. Since it is an interim final rule, the USCIS may place an effective date in the notice, and the rule will be in effect from that date. The OMB may still have comments or questions on the rule. If this happens, it may need to be returned to the USCIS for further revisions.

We cannot predict whether the OMB will approve the rule for publication, or exactly when that might occur. We recommend, therefore, that those persons who need to renew EADs within the next few months still file their renewal applications in a timely fashion to avoid having a lapse in authorization to work legally in the U.S. Clearly, many would welcome an extended validity period for EADs. The benefits of a change of this nature would extend not only to foreign nationals, but also to their employers and to the USCIS. Foreign nationals would avoid the need and additional expense involved in repeatedly renewing their EADs over several years, employers would have less work in tracking their employees' authorizations to work, and the USCIS could spend less time processing EAD renewals. We will continue to monitor this issue and will update MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers once the OMB's review is complete.