Original Date Announced

USCIS published a notice of proposed rulemaking to restrict filing and eligibility requirements for noncitizens requesting employment authorization and an accompanying Employment Authorization Document (EAD) based on a pending asylum application ("(c)(8) EAD"). Among other things, the proposed rule would:

• "[P]ause the acceptance of initial (c)(8) EAD applications when the average processing time for affirmative asylum applications over a consecutive period of 90-day adjudications exceeds 180 days," allowing DHS to pause all new EAD applications for pending asylum applicants "for an extended period, possibly many years."
• Extend the waiting period to apply for an EAD from 180 days to 365 calendar days from the date an asylum application is received.
• Extend the processing timeframe for USCIS to adjudicate an EAD application from 30 days to 180 days.
• Exclude from (c)(8) EAD eligibility any applicant:
  • "where there is reason to believe that the alien may be barred from a grant of asylum due to one of the criminal bars to asylum";
  • "whose asylum application is denied by an asylum officer or an Immigration Judge (IJ) within the 365 calendar-day waiting period, or before the adjudication of the initial (c)(8) EAD application";
  • "whose asylum application is filed on or after the effective date of the final rule and more than 1 year after the alien's arrival in the United States"; and
  • "who entered or attempted to enter the United States without inspection on or after the effective date of the final rule," subject to certain exceptions.
• Require all applicants, including renewal requests, to submit biometrics.
• "[P]rioritize asylum applications for adjudication if USCIS finds derogatory information during the process of the adjudication of (c)(8) EAD applications."
• Terminate EADs "(1) immediately following the denial of an asylum application by an asylum officer, unless the case is referred to an Immigration Judge; (2) on the date that is 30 days after the date on which an Immigration Judge denies an asylum application, unless the alien makes a timely appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals; or (3) immediately following the denial or dismissal by the Board of Immigration Appeals of an appeal of a denial of an asylum application."

USCIS will accept comments on the proposed rulemaking received on or before April 24, 2026.

Trump 2.0 [ID #2212]