Finnan, Fleischut & Associates

Two-Year Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) for Adjustment of Status Applicants

Effective June 30, 2008, USCIS will begin issuing EAD cards valid for two (2) years to foreign nationals who are filing or have already pending applications for adjustment of status to permanent resident (Form I-485, Adjustment of Status application) if at the time USCIS processes the request for EAD (submitted on form I-765) the visa quota indicates that permanent resident status visa numbers are not currently available for that applicant.  An EAD card affords the beneficiary/applicant the legal authorization to accept employment in the U.S. for the validity period on the document.

Whether the EAD will be renewed for one year or two years will depend on the Department of State’s (DOS) monthly Visa Bulletin, in which DOS forecasts demand for visa numbers for the following month.  If, after filing Form I-485, an applicant’s priority date (most commonly, based on the date that the initial labor certification was filed) retrogresses or is otherwise not then available, USCIS may renew the EAD card for two years.  Where an immigrant visa number is otherwise available, USCIS has indicated it will renew the EAD for only the standard one year.  Similarly, initial EAD applications that are filed simultaneously with the I-485 should continue to be approved for initial one-year validity, except in those unusual situations where the visa quota subsequently retrogresses to a date before the applicant’s priority date.

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