United Citizenship and Immigration Services will release today a much anticipated regulation authorizing examiners to issue Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for periods longer than a year. EADs are used for a variety or purposes, but one of the major uses is to provide interim work authorization for people waiting on permanent residency adjustment of status applications. Adjustment applications can take several years to complete and it is not unusual for applicants to have to renew the one year documents several times.

In order to improve customer service and to save millions of dollars in resources (more than 950,000 cards are issued each year), the agency will now issue documents for periods longer (and shorter in some cases) than a year.  Four major criteria will determine how long to issue a card:

1.      The applicant’s immigration status

2.      The general processing time for the underlying application or petition

3.      Required background checks and processing times for background checks by other agencies

4.      Other security concerns

There are no set validity periods listed in the new rule except as it pertains to asylees. Asylees will be receiving five year employment authorization documents. This will help address a problem that many have had proving their ability to work. This will largely cover them until they are eligible for green cards.

USCIS will issue field guidance to standardize how EAD validity lengths will be determined. In some cases, such as EADs issued to students as part of Optional Practical Training, the validity times are limited by statute.

The USCIS also noted that validity times could get shorter as BCIS approaches its goal of six month maximum processing times on all cases.