Biden Administration Implements Permanent Work Permit Extension: A Game Changer for U.S. Labor Market
Commerce and Workforce See Significant Gains with New Permanent Work Permit Extension Regulation
In a monumental move, the Biden administration has secured a victory for both businesses and workers by implementing a permanent rule that automatically prolongs the validity of select work permits by up to 540 days if renewed in a timely manner. This decision, announced on December 13, marks a response to the concerted efforts of entities including the American Immigration Council, advocating for measures to prevent employment interruptions caused by ongoing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processing backlogs. The regulation will be enacted starting January 13, 2025.
Historically, USCIS has faced enduring processing backlogs, but the situation intensified in recent years due to several factors. Regulatory changes in 2016 allowed an automatic extension of up to 180 days for certain renewed work permits, as most processing was then completed within three months. However, policies introduced during the Trump administration, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, led to a significant escalation in these backlogs. This prompted a temporary increase to 540-day extensions, first adopted in April 2024, to prevent widespread lapses in employment authorization.
With an eye on stability for both workers and employers, USCIS’s latest development promises to avert the lapse of employment authorization for 260,000 workers threatened by the backlog. The latest permanent rule is designed to mitigate such risks by adjusting certain procedural norms, thus creating more clarity for both employers and employees. Significant changes include specifying that expired work permits are also covered within the extension purview, allowing more flexible timing for renewals involving Temporary Protected Status, and detailing the commencement of the 540-day extension from the permit’s original expiration date.
Despite these advances, the rule falls short of incorporating some immigrant groups, like DACA recipients, primarily due to existing laws governing unauthorized employment and the requirement for their deferred action approval before gaining employment authorization.
Financially, the economic impact of the permanent extension is vast. Estimates suggest a potential saving of $10.0 billion in income preservation for affected workers, $1.1 billion in federal taxes, and $3.5 billion in retained revenue for approximately 39,000 employers. Without this policy, between 306,000 to 468,000 work permit renewal applicants would see significant employment disruptions between the rule’s implementation in July 2023 and March 2026.
This regulation comes at a crucial juncture, as the U.S. grapples with a persistent labor shortage and amidst a looming administrative shift aiming to curtail legal immigration. As underscored by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, immigration plays a vital role in stabilizing the labor market, vitalizing the present-day economy. Over the preceding four years, USCIS has enacted several pivotal changes to its work permit processing framework to mitigate labor market disruptions, including extending validity periods for select applicant categories, facilitating online applications, and substantially reducing case backlogs.
In embracing this new regulation, the Biden administration is positioning itself to safeguard the workforce within the broader economic landscape while reinforcing the indispensable contributions of immigrant labor to the national economy.
