DHS Extends Duration of Immigrant Work Permits in New Rule (2)

An automatic grace period for immigrants renewing employment authorization documents will be extended under a Department of Homeland Security rule released Tuesday.

Immigrants seeking to renew temporary work permits get an automatic extension of 180 days if their document expires while their application is pending. Regulations issued by DHS permanently increase that automatic extension to 540 days.

The regulations follow two temporary rules offering the 540-day automatic renewal period, including one issued earlier this year as US Citizenship and Immigration Services dealt with large backlogs of applications. Earlier this spring applicants faced wait times of as much as 16 months. The last temporary measure from April was set to expire next year though and the DHS subagency still has large backlogs of applications to process.

The rule will be effective Jan. 13 and apply to applicants who filed to renew work permits on or after May 4, 2022.

The regulations will help employers retain employees and prevent workers from experiencing lapses in employment authorization through no fault of their own, said USCIS Director Ur Jaddou in a statement.

“USCIS is committed to reducing unnecessary barriers and burdens in the immigration system to support our nation’s economy,” she said.

The agency said it couldn’t immediately provide updated numbers on work permit backlogs. Data from the third quarter of this year showed that 1,178,128 total work permit applications were pending, including 528,789 pending for more than six months.

Democratic lawmakers asked the Biden administration in October to prioritize processing those employment authorization documents and adopt measures including a permanent extension of the 540-day auto renewal. The final regulations (1615-AC78) cleared White House review Nov. 25.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who had asked the Biden administration to adopt the rule along with other efforts to reduce backlogs, said it means “fewer migrant families will be at risk of losing their ability to work legally because of bureaucratic delays out of their control.”

Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, called the rule a “commonsense” approach that followed several years of advocacy by the group’s members as well as elected officials and employers.

“With this final rule, DHS has ensured that ASAP members and other immigrants will not fall out of the workforce because of work permit processing backlogs,” she said.