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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a significant change in the process for renewing work permits for immigrants, which will impact millions of people in non-permanent immigration status.
Starting October 30, 2025, automatic extensions of employment authorizations (EAD) will be eliminated, with few exceptions.
This measure, driven by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), modifies a policy that since 2022 allowed certain immigrants to continue working while awaiting the approval of their renewal.
End of automatic renewals: More verifications, more delays
The new regulations aim to put an end to the practice of automatically extending work permits to those requesting their renewal, now prioritizing thorough background checks and security assessments.
In the words of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in a statement published on its website:
“USCIS is placing renewed emphasis on background checks and security investigations, reversing policies implemented by the previous administration that prioritized the convenience of foreigners over the safety and protection of Americans.”
The USCIS director, Joseph Edlow, emphasized the restrictive nature of this policy by stating: “All foreigners must remember that working in the United States is a privilege, not a right.”
With this change, applicants will no longer automatically receive an extension of their EAD while their application is pending, as was the case since 2022, when a 540-day extension was approved to address the backlog in application processing.
By then, USCIS had accumulated a record number of nine million petitions, of which more than 360,000 were for work permits for asylum seekers.
Who does this measure affect?
The new rule broadly affects nearly everyone who does not have permanent legal status and relies on a renewable work permit. Among the main impacted groups are:
-Applicants for asylum, refuge, or deportation suspension.
-Beneficiaries of asylum and refugee status.
-People in the process of adjusting their status to permanent residency.
-Spouses with H-4 visas (related to H-1B workers).
-Applicants for T visas (for trafficking victims) or VAWA (for domestic violence).
-Spouses of beneficiaries of investment visas (E) or executives with L-1 visas (L-2).
-Beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) whose permits have expired.
The only exceptions to this new rule are those provided by law or explicitly announced through notices in the Federal Register, mostly related to TPS.
Consequences for immigrants: More uncertainty, more vulnerability
The elimination of automatic extensions will require each applicant to undergo an individual and more rigorous verification before they can continue working legally.
This introduces new delays and uncertainty for thousands of people who are already facing long wait times.
USCIS has warned that those who do not renew their EAD in a timely manner could temporarily find themselves without work authorization.
Therefore, it is recommended to submit the renewal application up to 180 days in advance of the expiration date of the current document:
"The longer a foreigner waits to submit their renewal application, the greater the likelihood that their work authorization or documentation will be temporarily interrupted."
Currently, according to agency figures, a renewal can take:
-6.5 months for asylum seekers.
- Up to 10.5 months for those seeking to suspend a deportation order.
- Up to a year in other categories.
This represents a serious obstacle for those who depend on the work permit not only to survive but also to access basic services such as driver's licenses, bank accounts, or medical services.
Critiques: “An additional burden for the most vulnerable”
Various organizations and immigrant rights advocates have expressed their concern about the social and economic impact of this measure.
Ezequiel Hernández, an immigration lawyer in Arizona, warned:
"It will essentially affect vulnerable individuals who need to have their work licenses and permits up to date. It's an additional burden for immigrants."
For her part, Conchita Cruz, executive co-director of the Asylum Seekers Defense Project (ASAP), noted that although the immediate impact on asylum seekers will be limited—since many have already received extensions—in the medium term, the problem will become widespread:
"It is another step against people who are here working legally and contributing to their communities. It will not only impact those individuals, but also their families, employers, colleagues, and their communities, because some provide critical services."
Furthermore, Cruz and other experts question the legality of the implementation process, arguing that the DHS did not adhere to the proper legal procedure for introducing a new regulation.
"They are asking the public for feedback, but after having changed the law. That's not how it works," he stated.
The decision by USCIS represents a shift in U.S. immigration policy that could mark the beginning of a new era of increased scrutiny, bureaucracy, and restrictions for immigrants with provisional status.
The elimination of the automatic extension of work permits will impact the job, economic, and emotional stability of thousands of families living legally in the country, whose documentation relies on the response time of an already overwhelmed administration.
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