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USCIS cuts work permit validity to 18 months
The agency said the shorter validity window is meant to increase screening and deter fraud.
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Pranavi Sharma - Fri, 05, Dec 2025
- 00:08 EST
- 11
Representative Image / Wikipedia
The maximum validity period for initial and renewal Employment Authorization Documents will be reduced from five years to 18 months for several categories of noncitizens, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Dec. 4 in an updated policy manual.
USCIS said the change, which applies to applications pending or filed on or after Dec. 5, 2025, is intended to increase the frequency of security checks for people seeking permission to work in the United States. The agency said more frequent vetting will help identify fraud and flag individuals who may pose risks.
Director Joseph Edlow tied the decision to “public safety,” saying the agency must “conduct frequent vetting of aliens” following the recent attack on National Guard service members in Washington. He said shorter EAD periods will “ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies.”
The 18-month limit applies to refugees, people granted asylum, individuals granted withholding of deportation or removal, applicants with pending asylum or withholding cases, applicants with pending adjustment-of-status cases under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and applicants with pending cases for suspension of deportation, cancellation of removal, or relief under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act.
A separate set of changes required under H.R. 1 — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4 — imposes a maximum validity of one year, or the end of an individual’s authorized parole or Temporary Protected Status period, whichever is shorter. This applies to refugees paroled into the country, TPS beneficiaries, individuals granted parole, those with pending TPS applications, and the spouses of entrepreneur parolees.
Those requirements took effect for all Form I-765 applications pending or filed on or after July 22, 2025, when USCIS published a Federal Register notice announcing implementation of the law.
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