U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a Temporary Final Rule that will automatically extend the period of employment authorization up to 540 days beyond the expiration date of the Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) of certain noncitizens’ who timely filed to renew their EAD.  The automatic extension ends either upon notification of a final decision on the renewal application or the end of the 540-day period, whichever comes earlier.  This new rule goes into effect May 4, 2022 and applies to certain EAD categories that were already eligible for an automatic 180-day extension while their EAD renewal application was pending.  This essentially adds an additional automatic 360-day extension to the prior 180-day extension that was being granted. 

For anyone who timely filed an EAD renewal application, and the 180-day automatic extension provided under the former rule has already lapsed, they are now granted an automatic extension up to 540 days from the expiration date of their EAD, beginning May 4, 2022. 

This Temporary Final Rule is set to expire on October 27, 2023, on which date the automatic extensions of EADs will revert to the former rule of an automatic 180-day extension.