U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a final rule that will permanently abolish the 540-day automatic extension of Employment Authorisation Documents (EADs) for dozens of immigration categories, reaffirming an interim rule first issued in October 2025. The text, scheduled for the 14 October Federal Register, means that renewal applicants who file on or after that date will no longer be able to keep working past their card’s expiry simply by having a receipt notice in hand. USCIS argues that automatic extensions allowed employment to continue “without full adjudicative review,” raising security and integrity concerns. Critics counter that the agency’s own backlogs—often exceeding a year—make timely adjudication unrealistic and that the change will disrupt workplaces, especially healthcare, tech and seasonal industries that rely on work-authorised humanitarian or dependent categories. Practically, employers must now monitor employees’ EAD expiration dates far more aggressively. Because Form I-9 rules forbid work after the listed “card expires” date, HR systems will need alerts well before that deadline; otherwise companies risk sudden termination or unauthorized-employment penalties. USCIS suggests affected workers use premium processing “where available,” but that option costs $2,805 and is limited to certain categories. For mobility programs, the end of automatic extensions heightens the value of early renewal filing and of immigration counsel who can triage cases facing long adjudications. Contingency plans—such as leave of absence arrangements or alternative visa classifications—should be in place for critical staff. Companies should also review vendor contracts that assume uninterrupted work permission and may face breach claims if employees are benched. The rule takes effect upon publication, though existing automatic extensions approved before 30 October 2025 remain valid. USCIS has not announced additional resources to shrink EAD processing times, leaving employers to absorb the operational risk.
