United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule on October 30, 2025, that ended the automatic extension of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for applicants who timely filed applications to renew their EADs. T&S published an alert about this change at the time.
EAD renewal applicants who filed Form I-765 prior to October 30, 2025, received automatic extensions of their work authorization for up to 540 days while the EAD renewal application was pending. However, EAD renewal applications based on an individual’s temporary protected status (TPS) are treated differently because of H.R. 1, the Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress on July 4, 2025, and implemented by USCIS on July 22, 2025. This law requires that all TPS benefits—including renewals and automatic extensions—be limited to one year. Therefore, applicants who filed TPS-based EAD renewals between July 22, 2025, and October 29, 2025, only receive an automatic extension of one year (or the duration of TPS, if shorter).
On March 13, 2026, USCIS published a news update on its I-9 Central website clarifying how USCIS interprets the interplay of H.R. 1 and the Oct. 30, 2025 final rule ending the automatic extension of EADs. Specifically, DHS is now taking the position that H.R.1 was partially retroactive in that people who were already entitled to the 540-day automatic extension (because they filed Form I-765 before July 22, 2025) may not have more than 1 year (365 days) of automatic extension after July 22, 2025. Therefore, for individuals who filed a TPS-based EAD renewal application before July 22, 2025, the 540-day automatic extension became an “up-to-540-day” extension.
The brief news update is poorly worded and does not clearly explain how to calculate the expiration date of TPS-based EAD automatic extensions for applications filed before July 22, 2025. However, under a conservative approach, an automatic extension of work authorization in this scenario ends on the earliest of:
- 540 days after the expiration of the previous EAD;
- July 21, 2026; or
- the end of the country’s TPS designation.
According to USCIS, this earlier expiration applies even if the I-797C Receipt Notice indicates that the beneficiary is entitled to the full 540-day automatic extension. This update from USCIS has implications for employers who may have previously completed an employee’s Form I-9 based on then-existing guidance and documented an expiration date beyond what is now permissible.
Navigating TPS work authorization at this time is particularly complex because ongoing litigation has paused the termination of certain countries’ TPS designation, which has the effect of restoring work authorization to affected individuals even with a facially expired EAD. E-Verify has published guidance for I-9 compliance on its News page, and clients can contact T&S for advice on specific scenarios.
