U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) available to certain EAD renewal applicants. The TFR, which takes effect immediately on May 4, 2022, applies to EAD renewal applications filed on or before October 26, 2023, including those applications which were filed prior to May 4.  The rule is limited to those EAD categories that were previously eligible for an automatic 180-day extension. Under the temporary rule, USCIS has increased the automatic 180-day extension by up to 360 days, for a total of up to 540 days.

Beginning on October 27, 2023, the automatic extensions of EAD will revert back to the 180-day period for those with timely filed EAD renewals. Until then, anyone with a timely filed and pending EAD renewal application as of May 4, 2022, and anyone who timely files an EAD renewal application in categories prior to Oct. 27, 2023, will be granted an automatic extension of up to 540 days if their EAD expires before the renewal application is processed. The auto-extension ends upon approval or denial of the renewal application or upon the end of the 540-day window beginning on the expiration date of the prior EAD—whichever is earlier.