Temporary Rule Increasing Automatic Extension Period of Employment Authorization and/or EADs for Certain Individuals

On April 8, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a second temporary final rule (89 FR 24628) temporarily increasing the automatic extension period for employment authorization and/or Employment Authorization Documents (EAD, Form I-766) to up to 540 days. This temporary increase is available to certain individuals who timely filed Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, renewal applications on or before Sept. 30, 2025. Previously, the EAD auto-extension was only up to 180 days for EAD renewal applications received by USCIS on or after Oct. 27, 2023. 

Agencies should accept EADs, including those that appear expired, in the following circumstances:

• The EAD “Card Expires” date has passed and states an eligible category; and
• The benefit applicant also presents a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, receipt notice for a renewal Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, that states the same eligibility category as the category on the front of the EAD, except:
• The EAD category codes do not need to match for Temporary Protected Status applicants if one is A12 (TPS approved) and the other is C19 (TPS pending).
• The EAD category codes C26, A17, and A18 for certain nonimmigrant dependent spouses require an unexpired Form I-94 indicating H-4 (C26), E (A17) and L-2 (A18) nonimmigrant status be presented along with the Form I-797C. 

This temporary final rule also provides benefit applicants whose Form I-797C was issued on or after Oct. 27, 2023, and references the up to 180-day extension, an additional extension up to 360 days, for a total of up to 540 days past the “Card Expires” date of the current EAD, if their renewal application was still pending with USCIS as of Apr. 8, 2024 (when the second TFR was published).

SAVE Verification 

SAVE will generally verify employment authorization as part of initial verification, including automatically extended EAD validity periods. Additional manual verification may be required in limited instances, such as when the benefit applicant’s information does not match federal immigration records. If you need to verify whether this temporary final rule impacts a benefit applicant for whom SAVE previously provided a response, please submit a new SAVE verification request. 

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Automatic EAD Extension Webpage and this USCIS News Alert provide additional information regarding this change.