USCIS Extends Work Authorization for Legal Immigrants to 1.5 Years
by CARLOS MATÍAS
USCIS has tripled the validity of the Employment Authorization Document for lawful immigrants.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has automatically extended to 540 days (almost a year and a half) the validity of the Employment Authorization Document (EAD), which until now was 180 days. The objective is to give more stability to immigrants without U.S. citizenship who work legally in the United States and who accounted to almost thirteen million people two years ago.
The year 2022 marked a record high in the foreign-born population, regardless of their legal status. A Pew Research Center study released last July put the figure at 46.1 million. That is to say; immigrants represented 13.8% of the total population, a proportion three times the average of the last five decades and a growth that has tripled in the last half century.
Of these 46.1 million non-U.S. born people, 77% were in the country legally (some 35.5 million). Of these, 49% were naturalized U.S. citizens (22.6 million); 24% were legal permanent residents (about 11 million); and 4% (almost 1.9 million) were temporary legal residents. The remainder (eleven million) were non-legal immigrants.
The Pew Research Center data disproves Donald Trump when he claims that most immigrants are illegal.
EADs are work authorizations for a specific period of time. USCIS issues them to immigrants, asylum seekers, people with temporary protected status, and dependents of nonimmigrant visa holders. The EAD extension will be in effect until September 20, 2027, with provisions applicable through January 2025. It applies to renewal applications dated October 27, 2023, or later that were still pending on April 8. It also benefits those who apply within 540 days of April 8, 2024.