Washington: The United States has moved to sharply reduce the maximum validity period of Employment Authorisation Documents (EADs), a step expected to impact hundreds of thousands of Indian professionals and families already grappling with long immigration backlogs.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the shorter validity periods are intended to facilitate more frequent security vetting of foreign nationals working in the country. The agency said the revised policy will help “deter fraud and detect aliens with potentially harmful intent so they can be processed for removal from the United States”.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow linked the move to public-safety considerations, referring to a recent attack on National Guard service members in Washington allegedly involving a foreign national. He said reducing EAD validity would “ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies”.
The changes directly affect several categories widely used by Indian nationals, including employment-based green card applicants and H-1B workers with pending adjustment of status applications. Under the new guidance, EADs issued to refugees, asylees, individuals granted withholding of removal, applicants with pending asylum or withholding claims, and those applying for adjustment under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act will now be valid for 18 months instead of five years. The policy applies to applications pending or filed on or after 5 December 2025.
Separate restrictions mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) impose even tighter limits for those paroled into the US, individuals granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), applicants with pending TPS, and spouses of entrepreneur parolees. For these categories, work permits will be capped at one year or the end of the underlying parole or TPS period, whichever is earlier. Those rules cover all Form I-765 applications pending or filed on or after 22 July 2025.
A related Federal Register notice details new statutory fees of 550 dollars for certain initial EAD applications and 275 dollars for renewals. These charges cannot be waived under H.R. 1, with most of the revenue directed to the US Treasury and a smaller portion retained by USCIS.
For Indian nationals stuck in decades-long employment-based green card queues, the move adds a fresh layer of uncertainty. Many rely on long-duration EAD and Advance Parole documents to maintain lawful employment and travel while waiting years for permanent residency.
Immigration lawyer Emily Neumann noted that employment-based I-485 applicants will now see their EAD validity cut from five years to 18 months from 5 December 2025. She said the same is likely to apply to Advance Parole documents. “It would not be a big deal if renewals were processed timely,” she cautioned, warning that more frequent renewals will generate additional filings, deepen backlogs and prolong processing times. She added that the change, combined with the removal of automatic EAD renewal protections for pending applications, would force some individuals to stop working temporarily “for no good reason”.
USCIS has maintained that the updated policy is necessary to “enhance its screening and vetting efforts, enable detection of aliens with potentially harmful intent, deter fraud, and place removable aliens into proceedings”. The agency said the new rules roll back parts of its 27 September 2023 guidance to allow more frequent reviews of work-authorisation holders.
The Indian diaspora, one of the largest recipients of US employment-based visas, is expected to be among the worst affected. Many Indian professionals in technology, healthcare, academia and research depend on uninterrupted work authorisation while awaiting green card availability, a process slowed by strict per-country limits.
USCIS has been struggling with mounting backlogs as asylum, parole, TPS and adjustment of status applications have surged in recent years. The latest reductions in EAD validity are predicted to add to the agency’s workload even as it seeks to modernise its systems. The new 18 month limits take effect from 5 December, while the H.R. 1 mandated one-year caps apply from 22 July, covering both pending and newly filed work-permit applications.