The Homeland Security Department ended the automatic extension that kept work permits valid while renewal applications were pending, effective October 14.
The rule permanently eliminates a protection in place since 2016, most recently expanded to up to 540 days by a December 2024 rule, and locks in restrictions the department had already imposed on renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025.
With more than 432,000 renewal applications pending for at least six months as of June 30, including more than 91,000 pending over 18 months, The Financial Express reported that affected workers may have to stop working if their work permits expire before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approves renewal.
DHS says the change carries out Executive Order 14159, "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," and Executive Order 14161, "Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats," both signed January 20, 2025, shifting its rationale from stabilizing workers' earnings to prioritizing public safety and national security.
Of the 653 comments DHS received on the interim rule, the objections and the agency's defense define the central dispute. Multiple commenters argued the rule was arbitrary and capricious, violated reliance interests, bypassed required notice-and-comment procedures, and that no evidence showed the automatic extension posed a genuine security risk, given that renewal applicants had already been vetted.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said the change ensures screening is completed before authorization is extended, and DHS maintained that granting an extension "merely by filing a timely renewal EAD application and without first completing adjudicative review and related vetting, including resolution of any derogatory information identified during the vetting process," posed an unacceptable risk.
Under the final rule, the mechanics vary by immigration category. For workers whose employment authorization is not tied to their immigration status, such as adjustment-of-status applicants and pending asylum applicants, the work permit expires the day after the face date on the card if USCIS has not approved the renewal.
Workers whose employment authorization is incident to their status, such as L-2 spouses, lose the EAD as valid proof of work authorization on its face date, even though their underlying status may continue. Workers who filed renewal applications before October 30, 2025 retain the up-to-540-day automatic extension.
The CHRO Association warned employers they would need to track renewal and reverification dates more closely and prepare for possible work interruptions. Greenberg Traurig's immigration analysis in The National Law Review noted that a pending renewal receipt is not, by itself, proof of continued work authorization for employment verification purposes.
DHS estimates between 20,000 and 33,000 work permits will lapse in an 18-month window starting May 2027, with a mean lapse duration of 40.1 days per affected worker, and projects employer labor turnover costs of $312.1 million and lost productivity costs of $138.1 million over that period.h DHS acknowledged the rule "may potentially negatively affect family wellbeing" but said the national security and public safety rationale provides "adequate rationale for its implementation."
A California federal court issued a preliminary injunction on September 10 for seven H-4 visa holders challenging the 2025 interim rule, though the injunction did not apply nationwide.
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