The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has proposed sweeping changes to how U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issues work permits, formally known as employment authorization documents (EADs), to people with pending asylum applications. The proposed rule, published for public inspection in the Federal Register with a comment period opening on or about April 24, would affect both affirmative asylum applicants — those who apply directly to USCIS — and defensive applicants, including those who make credible fear claims at the border and those fighting removal in immigration court.

The most immediate change concerns timing. Current law allows asylum applicants to apply for a work permit 180 days after filing their asylum claim, the statutory minimum. The proposed rule would extend that waiting period to 365 days.

New eligibility bars

The rule would add several regulatory bars to EAD eligibility. Under the proposal, USCIS would deny work permits to:

• Asylum applicants who would ultimately be ineligible for asylum because of criminal activity;
• Applicants who filed their asylum application more than one year after arriving in the United States, which is generally itself a bar to asylum eligibility; and
• Applicants who entered the United States illegally, subject to limited exceptions.

The rule would also codify a biometrics requirement. All asylum-based EAD applicants, including those seeking renewal, would have to submit biometrics before receiving a work permit. DHS currently collects biometrics with the asylum application itself but has had no routine biometrics requirement for the EAD application. The agency says the status quo hinders immigration officers' ability to run criminal background checks and determine whether an applicant has been convicted of an aggravated felony, which would make them ineligible for the permit.

Adjudication changes and the pause mechanism

Two procedural shifts would change how USCIS handles cases. First, if USCIS uncovers derogatory information while adjudicating an EAD request that would restrict the applicant's ability to receive asylum, the agency would have to prioritize adjudication of the underlying asylum application. Second, USCIS officers would be required to deny an EAD application outright if the underlying asylum claim is denied while the EAD request is pending.

The most consequential proposal is an automatic pause mechanism. USCIS would have to stop accepting asylum-based EAD applications whenever processing times exceed 180 days. Acceptance of initial applications would resume only when the average processing time for affirmative asylum adjudications stays at or below 180 days over a consecutive 90-day period. DHS states that these pauses would trigger solely on processing times, not on agency leadership's discretion.

The numbers behind that mechanism are stark. The current average processing time for an affirmative asylum case is 1,278 days. DHS estimated that without the other changes in the rule, USCIS could take between 14 and 173 years to reach a 180-day processing time, meaning the pause alone could halt receipt of asylum-based EAD applications for years. The department expects the rule's combined changes to shorten processing times significantly.

Why DHS says the change is needed

DHS frames the rule as a tool to reduce incentives for fraudulent or frivolous asylum filings made solely to obtain work authorization. "Because of the significant disparity in the eligibility requirements between an asylum application and an asylum-based EAD, there is little to dissuade an alien from filing an asylum application for the sole purpose of obtaining employment authorization, even when an alien is statutorily ineligible for asylum or there is minimal likelihood that asylum would be granted," the department wrote.

The agency notes that receipts of initial employment authorization applications based on pending asylum claims have reached a historic high and that adjudicative resources are strained. USCIS currently faces a 1.45 million case backlog in its affirmative asylum portfolio — also a historic high. As of April 2025, the agency estimated that approximately 82,700 pending cases were filed by people who may ultimately be barred from asylum because they had already lived in the United States for at least 10 years when they filed. The immigration court defensive asylum backlog exceeds 2.35 million cases.

"Ultimately, reducing frivolous, fraudulent, or meritless asylum filings will enable USCIS to dedicate an increased share of its finite resources to adjudicating meritorious asylum applications, including backlog cases, and other pending benefit requests," DHS stated.

How the public can respond

The rule is not yet in force. The public comment period will remain open for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, beginning on or about April 24. Anyone may submit comments — support, opposition or alternative policy proposals — through regulations.gov under DHS Docket No. 2025-0370. Comments are generally publicly viewable, and DHS must review and respond to relevant comments before finalizing the regulation. Asylum applicants and prospective filers should track the Federal Register and USCIS announcements for the final rule and its effective date.