Employment Authorization Reform for Asylum Applicants

What it does

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to modify regulations governing applications for asylum and withholding of removal (asylum applications) and employment authorization based on a pending asylum application. The proposed rule would change filing and eligibility requirements for aliens requesting employment authorization and an employment authorization document (EAD) based on a pending asylum application. The changes include pausing acceptance of EAD applications from asylum applicants during periods when affirmative asylum average processing time exceeds 180 days, extending the waiting period to apply for employment authorization to 365 days, changing EAD application processing time requirements, and adding eligibility requirements.

The Homeland Security Department's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

2 parts of Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

8 CFR 208, 8 CFR 274

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1615-AC97 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

Comments on this proposed rule, including the proposed information collections, must be received on or before April 24, 2026. The electronic Federal Docket Management System will accept comments prior to midnight Eastern time at the end of that day.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket USCIS-2025-0370 on Regulations.gov
• Title 8 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register