On October 30, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new rule ending the policy of automatically extending employment authorizations (EADs) while their renewal was being processed.
The rule will apply to all renewals filed on or after October 30, 2025.
The government had established through a previous rule that EADs would be automatically renewed if individuals filed their applications on time, i.e., before they expired, and did so for the same employment category. The measure sought to resolve the backlog in processing these employment authorizations, which can take several months, thereby affecting job continuity. In October 2025, there were more than 900,000 work permit authorization applications filed more than six months ago and pending resolution.
The automatic extension applied to:
- Individuals entering the country as refugees (A03).
- Asylum seekers and individuals who were granted asylum (A05).
- Individuals requesting suspension of deportation or removal (C08) and individuals who were granted such protection (A10).
- Individuals who applied for suspension of deportation under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), cancellation of removal under section 24OA of the INA, or under the special rule in section 309(f)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) (C10).
- Individuals who were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), if their EAD has the employment category A12 or C19 (A12), and individuals who filed a TPS application and were determined to be prima facie eligible for TPS and received an EAD as a “temporary benefit” (C19).
- Individuals who are direct beneficiaries or children of individuals with visas for victims of violence (VAWA) (C31).
- Individuals who applied for permanent residence under section 245 of the INA (VAWA visa holders, foreign crew members, individuals admitted in transit without a visa, individuals entering under conditional permanent residence, and individuals engaged to marry a U.S. citizen) (C09).
- Individuals entering as parents or dependent children of persons with permanent residence (A07).
- Persons entering as spouses of persons with E-1/2/3 visas (treaty trader/investor/special Australian worker) (A17) and spouses of persons with L-1 visas (intracompany transferees) (A18).
- Spouses (H-4) of persons with H-1B visas whose I-94 form is valid, indicating that they have H-4 status (C26).
- Persons who filed applications for adjustment of status under the special provision for agricultural workers under section 210 of the INA (C20).
- Individuals who applied for the creation of a registry of authorized entry for permanent residence (C16).
- Individuals who filed applications for adjustment, applied for temporary and then permanent residence, and entered the U.S. before January 1, 1982 (C22).
- Individuals who filed applications to regularize their status under Section 1104 of the Legal Immigration for Family Equity Act (LIFE), which created a specific group of individuals who had initiated litigation before October 1, 2000, and who had entered before January 1, 1982 (C24).
- Nationals of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau (A08).
DHS argues that it must properly review applications for renewal of employment authorizations for security reasons and bases the change on Executive Orders 14159, “Protecting the American People,” and 14160, “Protecting the American People from Foreign Terrorist Travel.”
Although the Rule is already being implemented, it remains open for comment until December 1.
