The United States has ended the 540-day automatic extension of work authorisation for immigrants renewing employment permits, reversing a rule that had shielded applicants from employment gaps while federal processing backlogs persisted.

The measure previously allowed certain applicants for renewal of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to keep working for up to 540 days beyond the expiry date printed on their card. Its termination means renewal applicants can no longer rely on that long automatic cushion, and the standard shorter extension window applies once more.

The change carries direct consequences for hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, dependants, asylum seekers and other permit holders whose cards approach expiry. Anyone who counted on the 540-day buffer to bridge slow adjudication at US Citizenship and Immigration Services must now recalculate filing timelines. In practice, that means filing renewal applications as early as the regulations allow and preparing for the possibility that a new card will not arrive before the old one lapses.

Who is affected by the change?

The end of the 540-day rule touches every category of EAD holder who files a renewal application rather than an initial one. Affected groups include:

• Foreign nationals in employment-based categories whose permits expire pending renewal;
• Dependants of visa holders authorised to work incident to status;
• Asylum applicants and other humanitarian categories eligible for work authorisation;
• Applicants for adjustment of status who hold EADs while their green card cases proceed.

For each of these groups, the arithmetic changes. Under the 540-day framework, a worker whose card expired could lawfully remain on the payroll for up to a year and a half while the agency processed the renewal. That margin has now been withdrawn.

What should renewal applicants do now?

No single action fits every case, and applicants should verify current rules against the official USCIS guidance rather than rely on third-party summaries. The general pressure, however, is toward earlier filing and tighter record-keeping. Employers must also re-verify work authorisation documents on schedule, and an expired card without a valid automatic extension can end a worker's lawful employment even while a renewal application sits in the queue.

Advocates had pressed to make the 540-day extension permanent, arguing that processing times at federal immigration agencies routinely outlasted shorter extension windows. The government's decision to end the measure returns the system to a tighter default, shifting timing risk from the agency onto applicants and their employers.

Why the 540-day rule existed

USCIS first introduced the extended automatic period as a temporary response to severe case backlogs, after the standard 180-day window proved too short for renewal applications to be processed before permits expired. Workers who followed every rule still lost jobs when their cards lapsed through no fault of their own. The 540-day figure was meant to guarantee continuity of employment and payroll until the backlog cleared.

Its withdrawal signals that the agency considers processing capacity sufficient to return to the shorter framework — a judgement that affected workers and employers will now test in practice.

The takeaway in one line: renewal applicants can no longer count on a year and a half of extra work authorisation, and filing timelines just became critical.