This is an interim rule issued by the US Department of Homeland Security to prevent the automatic extension of Employment Authorisation Documents (EAD) of the migrant workers, which is likely to affect thousands of foreign workers, including the Indian forming a significant percentage of the expat workforce.
The Department announced on Wednesday that “Aliens that submit a request to renew their EAD on or after October 30, 2025 (Thursday) will no longer be automatically granted an extension of their EAD. It implies that EADs which have been automatically extended to before October 30 will not be affected.
The Trump administration indicated that under the new rule, increased vetting and screening will occur resulting in the preservation of public safety, national security.
The new move replaces as the practice of the Biden administration who allowed the immigrants to labor in the US during 540 days after their work permit had lapsed on the proviso that:
The renewal application was made in time
Their category of EAD was subject to be automatically extended.
Immigrant who file to renew their Employment Authorisation Documents (EAD) on or after October 30 will no longer receive an automatic extension of their EAD.
Their current EAD category is the same as the Eligibility Category or Class Requested on the receipt notice.
The statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security said that the exceptions to this rule were limited either based on extensions under the law or under a Federal Register notice in the cases of TPS-related employment documentation.
According to the US government, the rule will simply mean more frequent screening of the background of migrant workers, which it thinks will allow the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to stop fraud and to identify aliens with potentially malicious intent.
It has been dubbed as a common sense measure by the USCIS Director, Joseph Edlow, who explained that it is a privilege to work, but not a right in the US.
USCIS suggested that, immigrants should request a renewed EAD by submitting a renewal application to it at an opportune time not later than 180 days before expiration. According to the statement, the better an alien waits to make an EAD renewal application, the greater the chance that they might suffer a temporary suspension of their employment authorization or documentation.
Who Needs EAD?
One of the methods of demonstrating the fact that a person has permission to work in the US during the certain time is the presence of the EAD (Form I-766/EAD).
Permanent residents do not have to apply to EAD. Green Card (Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card) is one of the displays of employment authorisation.
Those who have a non-immigrant status (H-1B, L-1B, O or P) do not require this document as well.
H-1B Visa Row
This comes after the Trump administration raised the H-1B visa fee to 100,000 US dollars in earlier September to make sure that individuals being introduced to the nation are indeed extremely highly skilled and they are not excluding the American labor. “We need workers. We want big employees, and that is pretty much what is going to happen, he said.
The $100,000 charge is also not applicable to those that are already in the US and merely transferring their visa status – as in the case of students who are transferring their F-1 visa into a H-1B.
In a second major escalation, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday has issued an order to the universities of the nation asking them to employ Americans to occupy university employment and also terminate the culture of outsourcing foreign workers by using H-1B visas.
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