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Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Humera Subhani

June 2022

Work permit extensions for certain applicants

On May 3, USCIS announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for employment authorization and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), available to certain EAD renewal applicants, to up to 540 days. The increase will help avoid gaps in employment for noncitizens with pending EAD renewal applications.

The TFR, which only applies to those EAD categories currently eligible for an automatic up to 180-day extension, will temporarily provide up to 360 days of additional automatic extension time (for a total of up to 540 days) to eligible applicants with a timely-filed Form I-765 renewal application pending during the 18-month period after publication of the TFR while USCIS continues to work through pending caseloads that were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning October 27, 2023, automatic extensions of employment authorization and EAD validity will revert to the up to 180-day period.

Noncitizens with a pending EAD renewal application whose 180-day automatic extension has lapsed and whose EAD has expired will be granted an additional period of employment authorization and EAD validity, beginning on May 4, 2022, and lasting up to 540 days from the expiration date of their EAD, such that they may resume employment if they are still within the up to 540-day automatic extension period and are otherwise eligible. Noncitizens with a pending renewal application still covered under the 180-day automatic extension will be granted an additional up to 360-day extension, for a total of up to 540 days past the expiration of the current EAD. Noncitizens with a pending renewal application and valid EAD on May 4, 2022, or who timely file an EAD renewal application before Oct. 27, 2023, will be granted an automatic extension of up to 540 days if their EAD expires before the renewal application is processed.

USCIS updates case processing data

On May 5, USCIS announced changes to simplify and improve how the agency communicates case processing time data to the public. Users can now immediately find the processing time information for their particular type of case, rather than seeing an aggregate of all related case types. Additional changes include:

Adding drop-down options for form categories will help narrow results to only the processing times that are relevant to a case and help a user understand their particular situation;
Adding a case inquiry tool where the user can insert their receipt date and get an immediate answer on whether they should contact us with questions about their particular case; if so, benefit requestors will be provided a link to submit a case inquiry online;
Displaying a single 80th percentile processing time (rather than a range) to simplify the information provided and improve the ability of users to estimate how long it is likely to take USCIS to process a benefit request; and
Revising, streamlining, and adding more content to the processing times webpages to increase transparency.

Processing times are meant to be used as a reference point, rather than an absolute measure of how long it will take to process a particular case. Each case is unique, and some cases take longer than others to process, depending on the facts of the particular case.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR JUNE 2022

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Dec14	01Dec14
2A	Current	Current
2B	22Sep15	22Sep15
3rd	22Nov08	22Nov08
4th	15Sep05	22Mar07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Sep14	Current
3rd	15Jan12	Current
Other	15Jan12	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - JUNE 2022

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	15May16	15May16
2A	Current	Current
2B	22Sep16	22Sep16
3rd	22Aug09	22Aug09
4th	22Feb06	01Oct07

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Dec14	Current
3rd	22Jan12	Current
Other	22Jan12	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B