Comment opposing proposed rule eliminating the requirement that USCIS adjudicate an application for employment authorization within 90 days of the application

SUMMARY

In a letter to US Citizenship and Immigration Services at Department of Homeland Security (USCIS), the Immigration and Nationality Committee (Farrin Anello, Chair) opposed a proposed rule which would eliminate the longstanding requirement that USCIS adjudicate an application for employment authorization within 90 days of the application being filed, or in the alternative provide interim employment authorization. The Committee writes that “[t]his dramatic change in existing law was published without proper notice and would have an immediate and substantial negative impact on immigrants who have complied with USCIS rules and are awaiting employment authorization.” The Committee also notes that the issue at hand is currently the subject of class action litigation in federal court, and that for more than a quarter-century, USCIS and its predecessor INS have provided for interim employment authorization when the agency did not adjudicate an EAD application within 90 days, a procedure that has been invaluable to non-citizens who need an EAD in order to accept or maintain employment: “The current 90-day limit and interim EAD rule codified at 8 C.F.R. § 274a.13(d) provides predictability for employers, employees, and families, does not interfere with USCIS’s ability to adjudicate an application, request information from an applicant, or terminate an interim employment authorization.”