July 30, 2004

Employment Authorization Documents

The USCIS issued on July 30, 2004, effective immediately, an interim rule that eliminates the automatic grant of one year of employment authorization. Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) and give USCIS significant discretion to set changing validity dates. The validity periods of EADs will now be based on the following criteria:

• the applicant’s immigration status;
• general processing time for the underlying application or petition;
• required background checks and response times for background checks by other agencies, as necessary; and,
• other security considerations and factors as deemed appropriate by the USCIS.

The individuals who will be affected by this proposed rule include those individuals who are required to apply for employment authorization (such as applicants for adjustment) or, if employment is authorized incident to immigration status, to apply for evidence of employment authorization (such as asylees).

This means that EADs for adjustment applicants will now be issued subject to the processing times of the category under which the applicant filed, for example. It carries with it substantial impact for enabling adjustment applicants and others to get a single EAD for their entire application period, rather than in one-year increments, eliminating the filing of multiple applications and the payment of multiple filing fees.

USCIS will have the discretion to modify the EAD validity periods both for initial, renewal, and replacement cards. They will also be able to establish EAD validity periods for classes of aliens and for individuals within those classes whose cases warrant a lesser validity period.