OMB Completes Review of EAD Validity Regulation
Posted Jun 11, 2004
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The review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of an interim final rule to change the validity period of certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) was completed on June 2, 2004. This rule, however, has not yet been published in the Federal Register. Accordingly, no changes are in effect as of this writing. We provided information about this interim final rule in our March 26, 2004, article USCIS May Extend Validity of EADs, available on MurthyDotCom.
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This interim final rule probably deals with the issue of increasing the validity timeframe for an EAD from just one year to up to 2 years. The annual renewals of the EAD are disruptive, time consuming, and expensive for all parties concerned - the employee, the employer, and the USCIS officers whose time and resources are being expended on the renewal process instead of the faster processing of other petitions and applications. Increasing the validity times for the EAD makes sense when the estimated processing time for the I-485, for example, has been exceeding 2 years at most USCIS Service Centers. ©MurthyDotCom
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It appears that the OMB had a change to the interim final rule, but the nature of the change is, as yet, unclear. If the USCIS accepts this change, the interim final rule may be published soon. If they do not accept the change, it may still be some time before publication. We will continue to monitor this potential interim final rule and provide updates on this important issue for our MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers.