5.0 Automatic Extensions of Employment Authorization and/or Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) in Certain Circumstances
On May 4, 2022, DHS published a temporary final rule (87 FR 26614) in the Federal Register increasing the extension period for employment authorization and/or Employment Authorization Document (EAD) for applicants within certain employment eligible categories who have a pending Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, requesting a renewal of their employment authorization and/or EAD. This rule provides a temporary increases of the automatic extension period from up to 180 days to up to 540 days to qualifying EAD renewal applicants whose Forms I-797C, Notices of Action, have a “Received Date” on or before Oct. 26, 2023. Beginning Oct. 27, 2023, the automatic extension returns to 180 days for eligible applicants who timely file Form I-765 renewal applications. To determine the length of your employee’s automatic extension, see below.
| If the I-797C “Received Date” is: | Then the extension is: |
|---|---|
| Oct. 26, 2023, or earlier | Up to 540 days |
| Oct. 27, 2023, or later | Up to 180 days |
In general, employees with EADs that contain certain category codes are eligible for an automatic extension of their employment authorization and/or EADs as described in the following scenarios. See Figure 8 for an example that shows how to locate the category code and expiration date on an employee’s EAD.
Figure 8: Finding the Category Code and Expiration Date on an EAD (Form I-766)
The eligibility category appears on the EAD under “Category.” The expiration date appears to the right of “Card Expires,” see Figure 8 below:
