United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will publish an interim final rule (IFR) on October 30, 2025, that seeks to discontinue the automatic extension of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) granted to certain foreign nationals who have filed EAD renewal applications. The rule will become effective on October 30, 2025, but comments on it will be accepted by USCIS for thirty (30) days after publication.
Automatic EAD extensions allow EAD holders to continue their employment after the expiration of their EADs, provided that an EAD renewal application was timely filed before the initial EAD card’s expiration date. The current maximum automatic extension period is 540 days. EAD applicants applying for EAD renewals under certain categories are eligible for this automatic extension. Such categories include applicants for adjustment of status and H-4 spouses of H-1B petition beneficiaries.
Under the IFR, a foreign national who files an EAD renewal application on or after October 30, 2025, will no longer receive an automatic extension of his/her EAD and the foreign national’s employment authorization will end on the day that his/her EAD expires. EADs that were automatically extended before this date are not affected. Automatic EAD extensions granted to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries are also not affected.
Spouses of E-1, E-2, and L-1 nonimmigrants who hold derivative E-1, E-2, or L-2 status should note that they are granted employment authorization incident to status and do not need to apply for EADs, even though they are listed as a category eligible for automatic EAD extensions. Students applying for a STEM OPT EAD who timely submit Form I-765 prior to their previous OPT period expiration also would continue to receive a 180-day extension of work authorization.
USCIS recommends that EAD holders file renewal applications up to 180 days before their current EAD expires. Delays in USCIS processing of these applications mean that such an early filing will not guarantee that the EAD will be received before the expiration date of the current EAD, and an interruption in employment may result. For example, 80% of EAD applications filed for adjustment of status applicants with USCIS Service Center Operations take seven (7) months to be processed.
