USCIS Guidance on Expediting EAD Renewals for Healthcare Workers

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has provided updated guidance for healthcare workers seeking to expedite the processing of applications for employment authorization (form I-765). The guidance is specifically for healthcare workers seeking to renew their work authorization.

Expedite Requests for EAD Renewals

Per the USCIS guidance, if a healthcare worker has a pending I-765 renewal application for which the existing employment authorization document (EAD) expires within 30 days or has already expired, the applicant may call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 to request expedited processing. In submitting the request, the USCIS will ask the applicant include evidence of being in the healthcare field or evidence of current employment as a healthcare worker.

“Healthcare Worker” Defined Broadly

The expedite request guidance refers to an August 2021 memorandum that defines who qualifies as a healthcare worker. Naturally, the memo includes doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory personnel in its definition of healthcare workers. The good news is that the memo goes far beyond that to include IT workers and other personnel “…required for effective clinical, command, infrastructure, support service, administrative, security, and intelligence operations across the direct patient care and full healthcare and public health spectrum.”

Conclusion

Given how long the USCIS is taking to process many EAD applications, this guidance should prove useful to many foreign nationals. However, it is not enough. We urge the USCIS to take concrete steps to reduce processing times for all EAD applications, and to make premium processing service available for I-765 applications.

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