Navigating the New EAD Landscape: What HR Professionals Need to Know About Automatic Extension Changes, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and I-9 Compliance

If you manage a workforce that includes foreign national employees, you are likely aware that the employment authorization document (EAD) compliance landscape has changed fundamentally over the past year. This article focuses on what those changes mean for your I-9 obligations and day-to-day workforce management.

Key Legal Changes

On October 30, 2025, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published an interim final rule ending automatic EAD extensions for timely filed renewals.^[1] Anyone who filed or files to renew on or after October 30, 2025, gets no automatic extension of work authorization.^[3] Employees who filed to extend work authorization before October 30, 2025, remain eligible for 540 days of automatic extension as they awaits issuance of the new EAD.^[4]^[5]

Separately, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reduced maximum EAD validity from five years to 18 months for refugees (EAD category: A03), asylees (EAD category: A05), withholding of removal (EADS category: A10), pending asylum applicants (EAD category: C08), adjustment of status applicants (EAD category: C09), and cancellation of removal/NACARA applicants (EAD category: C10).^[7]^[8]

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), signed July 4, 2025, caps Temporary Protected Status (TPS) EADs at shorter of one year or the TPS designation period.^[14]^[12] USCIS interpretive guidance, issued March 13, 2026, applies this cap partially retroactively: even pre-July 22, 2025, TPS filers get no more than one year of automatic extension after July 22, 2025.^[23] For those filers, the extension ends at the earliest of: 540 days after the previous EAD’s expiration, July 21, 2026, or the end of the country’s TPS designation.^[22]^[24] We recommend not relying on the receipt notice and instead calculating the date yourself.

Finally, USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0194 — which is an internal agency policy, not statute or regulation — places an adjudicative hold on pending benefit applications for nationals of 39 countries identified in Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998.^[51]^[53] Pending EAD applications for affected nationals will not be approved while the hold is in place.^[59] Combined with the elimination of automatic extensions, employees from these countries face potential loss of work authorization with no regulatory backstop.^[61] See the full country list in the reference table below.

How Each Category of Employee Is Affected

The following table summarizes where things stand for each major category of EAD dependent employee.

Employee Category (EAD Code)	Pre-Oct. 30, 2025 Filers	Post-Oct. 30, 2025 Filers	Additional Considerations
TPS Beneficiaries (A12/C19)	Automatic extension capped at 1 year or TPS duration (whichever is shorter) per H.R. 1, even if receipt shows 540 days.^[29]	No general automatic extension; however, TPS specific Federal Register notices or individual notices may still provide extensions by law.	One year EAD validity cap under H.R. 1 applies.^[16] Country specific court orders may extend validity.^[30] New $560/$280 fees apply.^[21]
Pending Asylum Applicants (C08)	Up to 540-day automatic extension remains valid.^[31]	No automatic extension.	EAD validity reduced to 18-month max. New $550 initial/$275 renewal fee under H.R. 1. ^[17]^[32]^[33]
Asylees (A05)	Up to 540-day automatic extension remains valid.	No automatic extension.	EAD validity reduced to 18-month max.
Refugees (A03)	Up to 540-day automatic extension remains valid.	No automatic extension.	EAD validity reduced to 18-month max.
Adjustment of Status Applicants (C09)	Up to 540-day automatic extension remains valid.	No automatic extension.	EAD validity reduced to 18-month max. Affects both employment-based and family-based green card applicants.
H-4 Dependent Spouses (C26)	Up to 540-day auto extension remains, but cannot exceed I-94 end date.^[34]^[35]	No automatic extension.	Must present unexpired I-94 alongside EAD and receipt notice.^[36] Processing delays create high risk of work authorization gaps.^[37]
L-2 Dependent Spouses (A18)	Up to 540-day auto extension remains, but cannot exceed I-94 end date.	No automatic extension for EAD renewals.	L-2 spouses with I-94 annotated as “L-2S” may be authorized to work incident to status and may not need a separate EAD. Must present unexpired I-94.^[38]
E Spouse Dependents (A17)	Up to 540-day auto extension remains but cannot exceed I-94 end date.	No automatic extension for EAD renewals.	E-2S/E-1S/E-3S spouses may be authorized to work incident to status with an annotated I-94.
DACA Recipients	DACA renewal processing continues under court orders.^[39]	DACA is governed by separate regulations; no new DACA applications are being processed.^[40]^[41]	Current grants and related EADs remain valid until they expire.^[42] USCIS recommends filing renewals 120 to 150 days before expiration.^[43] Fifth Circuit ruling may affect work permits.^[44]
Parolees (C11)	CHNV parole EADs have been revoked following DHS termination of parole grants.^[45]	No automatic extension. EAD validity capped at 1 year or parole period under H.R. 1.^[46]	Facially valid C11 EADs may no longer be valid.^[28]
VAWA Self-Petitioners (C31)	Up to 540-day automatic extension remains valid.^[47]	No automatic extension.^[48]	Sensitive category requiring careful handling.
F-1 STEM OPT Students	180-day automatic STEM OPT extension is unaffected.^[49]	180-day automatic extension continues under separate regulations.	Cap gap extensions also remain in place.^[50]

I-9 Compliance: How Each Scenario Plays Out

All of these changes converge on a single obligation that has not changed: complete Form I-9 within three business days of a new hire’s start date, and reverify employment authorization when it expires.^[62]

Pre-October 30, 2025, filers: Accept the facially expired EAD plus I-797C receipt notice.^[6] Enter the auto extended expiration date in Section 2 (540 days from the “Card Expires” date, or 365 days for TPS categories under H.R. 1) and note “EAD EXT” in Additional Information.^[63] For H-4, L-2, and E spouse employees (A17, A18, C26), the extension cannot exceed the I-94 end date… use whichever date is earlier.^[64]

TPS renewals filed on or after July 22, 2025: The expiration date is the shorter of one year from the “Card Expires” date or the TPS designation end date.^[65] Check the USCIS TPS page for country specific court orders that may extend validity.^[66]

Post-October 30, 2025, filers (all other categories): No automatic extension. If the EAD expires while the renewal is pending, the employee must present different acceptable documentation, or they cannot continue working.^[67]^[68] No grace period. No workaround.

Employees from PM-602-0194 countries: Pending EAD applications may be held indefinitely.^[69] You cannot continue employing someone whose authorization has lapsed, regardless of the reason for the delay.

Cuba, Haiti Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) parole EADs (EAD category: C11): Even facially valid C11 EADs may have been revoked.^[70] E-Verify employers should monitor the status change report.

Reverification: Required when any automatic extension or EAD validity period ends, using Supplement B of Form I-9.^[71] Do not use E-Verify for reverification.

Anti-discrimination: Under INA § 274B, you cannot request specific documents or refuse valid, unexpired documents because of national origin or citizenship status. Employees from PM-602-0194 countries may still hold perfectly valid work authorization.

What HR Teams Should Do Now

Audit your workforce. Catalog every EAD dependent employee by category, expiration date, and whether they filed before or after October 30, 2025.^[72]
Set up tracking. Automated reminders at 180, 150, 120, and 90 days before each expiration…USCIS allows filing for an EAD extension 180 days before an EAD expires.^[73]
Distinguish TPS from parole EADs. For CHNV nationals, confirm whether the EAD is TPS based (A12/C19) or parole based (C11).^[74] The category code is dispositive.
Monitor TPS litigation. Country specific court orders are shifting frequently. Bookmark the USCIS TPS page and check it regularly.^[75]
Train your I-9 team on the elimination of automatic extensions, the TPS one year cap, and the grandfathering cutoff.^[76]^[77]
Plan for workforce gaps, especially for employees from PM-602-0194 countries whose adjudications may be held indefinitely.
Use premium processing where available to avoid authorization gaps.
Get immigration counsel involved early. The interplay of statutes, regulations, policy memoranda, and court orders is extraordinarily complex.^[79]^[80]^[81]

References

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