Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security published a notice of proposed rulemaking on June 5 that would tighten eligibility for employment authorization documents for parole recipients, deferred-action beneficiaries and people released under supervision with final removal orders.
- Under the proposal applicants in those three categories would have to submit Form I-765WS to prove economic need, provide fingerprints and photos for background checks, and generally receive EADs for only one year with periodic rechecks.
- Renewals would require proof of employment or a job offer with an employer enrolled in E-Verify, the federal system firms use to confirm a worker’s legal right to work, which would shift compliance burdens onto employers.
- The draft would bar EADs for many people with arrests, charges, admissions of serious crimes or evidence of gang or terrorist ties and would sharply narrow EAD access for OSUP cases to situations where deportation is truly impracticable.
- The proposal is not final and is open for 60 days of public comment through early August, and it arrives as USCIS is reactivating paused asylum, work-authorization and naturalization cases for nationals of 39 countries and expanding processing capacity while warning it may exercise case-by-case revocations.