Biden extends some immigrant work permits, potentially saving thousands of jobs

The Biden administration announced Thursday an extension of work permits for certain categories of immigrants, potentially preventing hundreds of thousands of people from losing their jobs overnight.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Interim Final Rule The Federal Register automatically extends the employment authorization document (EAD) expiration date from 180 days to 540 days.

This means eligible immigrants whose EADs expired after October 27th will remain eligible to work for at least another 360 days until their EAD renewals are processed.

“We are working hard as an agency and are making very good progress in speeding up processing and responding to the significant increase in the number of applications we receive for different types of things, but especially employment permits. documents,” a USCIS spokesperson told The Hill.

“We want to maintain our commitment to not only reduce processing times, but also to prevent work permits from expiring through no fault of ours.”

The two biggest groups to benefit from this change will be asylum seekers and foreign nationals in the process of changing their status to permanent resident status. In total, up to 800,000 migrants were at risk of losing their work permits without the new rules, a Department of Immigration and Immigration spokeswoman said.

USCIS will also benefit from this change. The agency has been actively working to rebuild processing capacity since the Trump administration refocused USCIS away from processing applications and reducing its ability to make quick decisions.

The restructuring also comes as asylum applications have ballooned and the agency’s historic backlog has increased, but USCIS managed to reduce its backlog in fiscal year 2023. for the first time in 10 years.

Advocates, mayors and business leaders were worried about an April 24 deadline by which some workers would start losing their permits.

This is the second time the Biden administration has announced an extension to 540 days. The original extension announced in 2022 expired on his October 27, 2023, and the automatic extension returned his 180 days.

All categories of immigrants eligible for the 2022 extension will be eligible under the new extension as well.

The 540-day extension also means that the problem is unlikely to recur.Since then SeptemberUSCIS is granting eligible immigrants a five-year EAD instead of the previously standard two-year EAD.

This provides USCIS with a greater cushion against possible mass EAD lapses in the future.

Officials have been inundated with letters from the government since the 2022 extension expired. Member of Parliament, Mayor, advocacy groupand the business community They are calling for the 540-day extension to be reinstated.

When the 2022 extension was announced, a USCIS spokesperson told The Hill that some EADs had already expired, leaving immigrants without jobs and disrupting business operations. Ta.

This time, the new rules go into effect on April 8, several weeks short of the EAD’s 180-day mark, which expires after sunset in October. Active extensions granted for 180 days will be retroactively converted to 540-day extensions.

A longer extension had been awaited by groups ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to individual asylum seekers.

Linda C., an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe and member of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, told The Hill in an email that the new rules are a “huge relief.”

“I was very worried that I would lose the job that I had managed to secure to survive and make ends meet. I wish we could live without the stress and pressure of losing a job which was very worrying. I am very grateful that the government has extended my work permit so that I can continue to work there,” she said.

For asylum seekers, losing their EAD can mean the difference between moving into their own housing or being forced into a city shelter.

“Cities and counties have made it clear that asylum seekers and immigrants need work permits, but processing delays and federal inaction mean immigrants in our communities could soon lose their work permits.” “We are dissatisfied with the nature of the situation,” the city and county wrote in February. The action was signed by 43 mayors.

“As a result, cities and counties will soon face even greater hardship if they lose jobs, driver’s licenses, access to health care and housing. We ask that you please help us prevent this from happening again.”

The business community was also under pressure, facing additional costs from removing people from payrolls and other disruptions.

“It gives everyone that, and it gives the agency some breathing space. And that’s actually a benefit for companies, but it’s also a relief for companies, because companies Because we know we’re going to go through that headache again,” said John Baselis, the chamber’s vice president for immigration policy.

“I say it hurts, but all of these problems come at a cost. It’s not just a question of how to take people off the payroll. We might be down to three.”

Uncertainty over continued work permits affects a wide range of companies, from those employing newly arrived asylum seekers with little work experience to large companies employing subject matter experts from around the world. This was a matter of concern.

The two groups that would benefit most from this rule, asylum seekers and immigrants pending adjustment of status, exemplify its scope.

Many stakeholders welcome the change in a political climate where immigration legislation has stalled.

“At this point, I know what we are facing, what the business community and many other people and I are facing, but I don’t want to speak for them. I am grateful for this,” said Baselice. .