U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it has begun implementing a streamlined process for the Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization (EAD) to provide Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) more efficiently to eligible refugees after they are admitted to the United States.
This streamlined process shortens the wait time for an EAD to approximately 30 days instead of several months, the federal agency reported in a press release.
All individuals admitted to the United States as refugees starting December 10, 2023 will receive an EAD under this new process.
By law, a refugee is legally authorized to work as soon as they arrive in the United States. However, obtaining proof of this employment authorization in the form of an EAD was previously a cumbersome paper-based process that caused excessive delays.
The new process is fully automated and no longer requires refugees to apply for an EAD, allowing for more efficient processing and adjudication of the Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and faster delivery of EADs once approved.
Under this new process, USCIS will digitally create a Form I-765 for each arriving refugee and begin adjudicating it as soon as they are admitted to the United States.
After USCIS approves a refugee’s Form I-765, they will generally receive their EAD within one to two weeks. However, this timeframe may vary, and the agency asked applicants to allow 30 days after their application before submitting an inquiry.
USCIS will send EADs via the U.S. Postal Service’s priority mail service to the registered address.
Refugees will also be quickly assigned Social Security numbers
USCIS will also provide the Social Security Administration with the required information to assign each refugee a Social Security number and mail them a Social Security card.
USCIS recognizes that documents such as an EAD and a Social Security card are crucial for the integration capacity of a newly arrived refugee. This new process is the result of coordination among the federal government to support the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and refugee integration.
This expedited process for assigning and delivering Social Security numbers to refugees was launched on December 10, 2023, following a successful pilot program.
The agency emphasized that this streamlined process does not apply to family reunification refugees (known as “following-to-join” in English) admitted to the United States based on an approved Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition.
Additionally, refugees seeking a replacement or renewal of an EAD must still complete and submit Form I-765.
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