Dive Brief:
- The Department of Homeland Security will end the automatic extension of certain immigrant work permits pending renewal, according to a news release issued Wednesday by US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
- Under an interim final rule to be published and take effect Thursday, DHS will eliminate a safety net that granted immigrants an automatic 540-day renewal while their work authorization documents were pending.
- The new rule will allow DHS to conduct “appropriate screening and verification of aliens before extending the validity of their work authorizations,” DHS said.
Diving knowledge:
The move is the latest by the Trump administration to curb immigration, including the president’s controversial $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa petitions.
“USCIS is placing a renewed emphasis on robust alien screening and verification, eliminating policies the former administration implemented that prioritized the convenience of aliens over the safety and security of Americans,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement. “All foreign nationals should remember that working in the United States is a privilege, not a right.”
Under the Biden administration, USCIS in May 2022 increased the automatic extension period for certain work permits to 540 days, up from 180 days, citing a heavy caseload.
The longer extension period was intended to “help avoid employment gaps for aliens with pending EAD renewal applications and stabilize the continuity of operations of U.S. employers,” USCIS said at the time.
The new rule does not apply to permits that were automatically extended before Oct. 30, the current USCIS said. The agency recommends that immigrants submit renewal applications up to 180 days before their documents expire.
“The longer an alien waits to submit an EAD renewal application, the more likely he or she will experience a temporary lapse in their authorization or employment documentation,” the agency said.
This “surprise announcement” leaves employers scrambling, according to Shanon Stevenson, a partner at labor and employment firm Fisher Phillips.
“This will end up having a big impact on companies that will likely face labor shortages as their foreign nationals will no longer be authorized to work without the automatic 540-day extension,” Stevenson told HR Dive via email. “Aliens can apply for an EAD extension up to 180 days prior to expiration, but in my experience, DHS often takes 8-12 months or longer to process EADs, leaving a massive 2-6 month gap in employment authorization for many employees who are vital to our economy.”
