With Federal Judge Andrew Hanen’s deadline to return incorrectly issued 3-year Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) quickly approaching, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has informed the public that it will be conducting home visits to retrieve affected EADs. During a July 14 stakeholder call, USCIS announced some important updates to this initiative:

1. USCIS home visits to collect affected EADs will start on Thursday, July 16 (rather than July 15 as original indicated by USCIS).
2. USCIS will conduct a “pilot” program in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and potentially San Francisco. USCIS will then expand the pilot program geographically sometime next week. Expansion will likely take place in zip code areas with large concentrations of recipients and areas not in close proximity to a USCIS field office.
3. DACA recipients who return their EADs during a home visit will receive a USCIS receipt as proof of compliance.
4. DACA recipients can also return their EADs at any USCIS field office and receive a USCIS receipt to evidence compliance.
5. Any DACA recipient who is not at home when USCIS visits will not receive written notice of USCIS’ visit.
6. Should a recipient fail to return the 3-year EAD by the July 17 deadline, letters including notice of USCIS’ intention to terminate DACA will be sent to the DACA recipient and the attorney of record, if applicable.

Bottom line: should you hold an affected DACA EAD that is being recalled by USCIS, you must return it the agency before the July 17 deadline in one of the ways outlined above. Failure to do so could adversely affect your future ability to secure an immigration benefit.

This post was written by Cory Lyles.