Work Permit Document Assistance

Work Permit

To apply for employment authorization and an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), you must file Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.

Based on a Pending Asylum Application:

You are generally eligible for an EAD when your asylum application has been pending for 180 days. To apply for an EAD based on your pending asylum application under the (c)(8) category, you may file Form I-765 150 days after you file your asylum application. You are not eligible to receive an EAD until your asylum application has been pending for at least another 30 days, for a total of 180 days. This is commonly referred to as the 180-Day Asylum EAD Clock.

Delays that you request or cause while your asylum application is pending with an asylum office or with the Executive Office for Immigration Review do not count toward the 180-day eligibility period.

Delays you may request, or cause may include, but are not limited to:

• Asking to transfer a case to a new asylum office or interview location, including when the transfer is based on your change of address.
• Asking to reschedule an interview for a later date.
• Failing to appear at interview or biometrics appointment.
• Failing to provide a competent interpreter at an interview (if required);
• Asking to provide additional evidence at or after an interview, or within 14 calendar days in advance of the interview; or
• Failing to receive and acknowledge an asylum decision in person (if required).

If you are required to receive and acknowledge your asylum decision at an asylum office but you fail to appear, your 180-Day Asylum EAD Clock will stop, and you may be ineligible to receive employment authorization.

If USCIS referred your case to an immigration court, your 180-Day Asylum EAD Clock will not start again until your first hearing with an immigration judge.

If you fail to appear for a scheduled asylum interview without establishing exceptional circumstances or fail without good cause to provide a competent interpreter if you are required to do so, USCIS may refer your Form I-589 to an immigration judge, and you will be ineligible for employment authorization based on your pending Form I-589.

After your asylum application is adjudicated:

If you are granted asylum, you are immediately authorized to work. (Some asylees choose to obtain EADs for convenience or identification purposes, but you do not need an EAD to work if you have been granted asylum.) If we approve your affirmative asylum application, we will mail an EAD to your address of record. If you do not receive your EAD within 90 days of your asylum grant, you may call the USCIS Contact Center. When you call, indicate that you are calling about an auto EAD. You may also contact us by clicking on “Connect to Live Agent” in the Chat with Emma feature on our website. Have your Form I-589 receipt notice available when you call us about your EAD. If you were granted asylum by an immigration judge, you must file Form I-765 to obtain an EAD.

If USCIS deny your asylum application, USCIS will terminate your employment authorization immediately. If you do not maintain a lawful basis to remain in the United States and an asylum officer refers your asylum application to an immigration judge for further consideration, your EAD will remain valid through the expiration date on your EAD. If an immigration judge denies or rejects your asylum application, we will terminate your employment authorization 30 days after the date the immigration judge denied or rejected your asylum application, unless you appeal the immigration judge’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). If the BIA denies your appeal of the denial or rejection of the asylum application, then we will terminate your EAD immediately. You may be otherwise eligible for employment authorization if you are in a valid immigrant or nonimmigrant status or are in an unexpired period of parole or temporary protected status.

ALERT: If you are applying for your initial (first) employment authorization based on having a pending asylum application, you may be a member of the class action case, Rosario v. USCIS, Case No. C15-0813JLR (W.D. Wash. July 26, 2018).

If you are granted asylum you may petition to bring your spouse and children to the United States by filing a Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition. To include your child on your application, the child must be under 21 and unmarried.

You must file the petition within 2 years of being granted asylum unless there are humanitarian reasons to excuse this deadline. There is no fee to file this petition.

You may be approved for a Green Card 1 year after being granted asylum. To apply for a Green Card, file a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status. You must submit a separate Form I-485 application packet for yourself and, if applicable, for each family member who received derivative asylum based on your application.

You must receive a referral to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to be considered for resettlement as a refugee in the United States.

Eligibility for refugee status is determined on a case-by-case basis following an interview with a specially trained USCIS officer. The interview is designed to obtain information about your refugee claim and eligibility for resettlement to the United States. When we make this determination, we consider the conditions in your country of origin and evaluate your credibility. USCIS officers also complete background and security checks and review and analyze the results of these checks. If you are approved, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has the final authority to admit you as a refugee when you arrive at a port of entry in the United States.

Your case may include your legally recognized spouse, your children (if they are unmarried and under 21 years old), and, in some extremely limited circumstances, other family members. When we determine whether your marriage is valid for immigration purposes, we generally look to the law of the place where your marriage took place.