The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin implementing an important measure in favor of immigrants starting in 2025. This is a regulation intended to protect employers, promote economic growth and improve access to employment throughout the country. What is this measure and when will it take effect?
This regulation establishes a permanent increase in the automatic extension period for employment authorization (EAD) for immigrants. It will increase from 180 to 540 days. This new measure will be effective as of January 13, 2025 and will benefit those persons who are in the process of obtaining their legal permanent residence in the country and those who are part of other immigration programs.
This adjustment responds to the need of employers to have a stable labor market and assured economic growth. This new measure is intended to contribute to business certainty and facilitate labor continuity for immigrant workers arriving in the United States.
Since January 2021, the economy has created more than 16 million jobs. Given this significant growth, the Department of Homeland Security is committed to helping companies fill them. So says Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, in an official statement issued by the U.S. Citizenship Services.
How will this new regulation benefit immigrants?
The national authorities are confident that the increase in the automatic extension period will benefit both employees and immigrant employees. The elimination of red tape will facilitate the process for both sectors and for the country’s economy, as hundreds of thousands of people will be able to continue providing services in companies that contribute their grain of sand to make the U.S. economy one of the most important in the world.
“The need is clear as USCIS received and processed a record number of EAD applications this year. This is the latest step taken by the Biden-Harris administration to keep authorized individuals in the workforce, supporting our local economies,” explained the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In their statements they also emphasize that USCIS is committed to reducing unnecessary barriers and burdens in the immigration system to support the country’s economy. They also hope that this measure will help employers retain their best people. Now, with this regulation, those who present the documentation will not have to interrupt their functions due to the bureaucracy of the process.
Benefits of this new measure for immigrants
- Extension of validity from 2 to 5 years for certain categories of applicants: this new measure reduces the frequency of renewal and alleviates the administrative burden for USCIS and for working immigrants.
- Cutting average EAD processing times in half: this will cover persons in adjustment of status from FY 2021 to the present.
- Streamlining the processing of refugee EAD applications.
- Expansion of online EAD filing: this benefit will be for asylum seekers and persons with temporary permission to stay.
How to access this benefit?
To benefit from the automatic extension, immigrants must present documentation proving their employment authorization. It must still be valid. In applicable cases, an expired EAD may still be considered valid if accompanied by a Form U-797C, which extends its validity while the renewal is being processed.
