Illegal Border Crossings Today:

Surge of Work Permit Applications Gives USCIS Excuse to Auto-Renew Them

USCIS building

FAIR Take | April 2024

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is at it again: cutting corners to reduce so-called backlogs. This time, the agency is “streamlining” the processing for obtaining work permits by allowing automatic extensions for up to 540 days – whether the aliens are here legally or not. The action, done via a temporary final rule published in today’s Federal Register, was in response to predictable yet astronomical increases in applications for employment authorization documents (EADS), or work permits, since the border crisis began.

Current regulations allow the agency to grant an extension for up to 180 days for those seeking a renewal of an EAD.  The agency claims it increasing the extension period to 540 days, as a temporary measure, due to surges in 2021 and COVID-related delays. As a result, USCIS claims, processing times have increased, and those with existing EADs face the possibility of a lapse in authorization to work.

USCIS stated, “Without this [Temporary Final Rule], approximately 800,000 renewal EAD applicants will be in danger of having their applications remain pending beyond the 180-day automatic extension period, resulting in applicants losing employment authorization and/or EAD validity in the approximately 2-year period beginning May 2024 because of USCIS processing delays and through no fault of their own. Such widescale lapses in employment authorization and EAD validity would result in substantial and unnecessary harm to noncitizens who timely filed for extensions of employment authorization, their families, their employers, and the public at large.”

The agency’s action was not a welcome measure for some, including U.S. tech workers. A representative of the Institute for Sound Public Policy tweeted, “USCIS is admitting it can’t process the never-ending number of work permit renewals thanks to both the Obama and Biden administration circumventing congress and creating new work permit pathways (DACA, H4EAD, TPS, asylum, etc.). So they’ll just hand out automatic extensions for expiring work permits until it takes USCIS *1.5 years* to process the actual legal adjustment.”

Since President Biden took office and Secretary Mayorkas created new “legal pathways” for illegal aliens to enter the United States, more migrants without have sought entry into the country for the sole purpose of obtaining a job. While federal law prohibits U.S. employers from hiring illegal aliens without a work permit, the Biden Administration has authorized those processed and released on parole to obtain work permits almost immediately. In fact, the agency claims it is processing work permits for asylum applicants and certain parolees in less than 30 days.

Figure 2. 1-765 Median Processing Times by Fiscal Year

The agency’s rule is effective immediately and will be in effect for 1,260 days (or 3.5 years). The agency claims it will consider public comments, which can be submitted online here.