The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has decided to automatically extend the validity of permanent residency to two years if immigrants with permanent residency apply for renewal (I-90) on time before the expiry date of their current green card.
USCIS said in a press release last week that it would implement the policy. This measure came into effect on September 26, last year.
USCIS, which is experiencing a severe backlog in immigration application documents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has implemented a measure to automatically extend the validity period of existing permanent residence cards for one year from the expiration date for permanent residency renewal applicants. However, this time the period has been doubled to two years.
This measure is intended to relieve applicants who have applied for permanent resident card renewal before the expiration date of their permanent resident card and have not been issued a new permanent resident card due to a backlog of procedures.
USCIS specifies that the two-year automatic extension of the validity period of the permanent resident card is specified in the notice of receipt to applicants who file Form I-90 to renew their permanent resident status, so that permanent residents who file the renewal application will receive this notice even after the expiration date.
Meanwhile, USCIS is implementing a measure that automatically extends the validity period of the work permit (EAD) to a maximum of 540 days from last May as a similar measure.
If you apply for renewal before the expiration of the validity period of your work permit (EAD), even if you do not get approval, the temporary regulation is in place to automatically extend the validity period up to 540 days after the expiration date. The period has been extended to 360 days, which has been increased to three times.
This measure is also due to the fact that the number of backlog of work permit applications (I-765) has reached 1.5 million since the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in cases in which applicants for work permit renewal who did not get approval in time are inevitably forced to stop working or take a leave of absence. There is it followed.
Applications for renewal of work permits can be made up to six months before the expiration of the deadline. USCIS estimates that more than 400,000 foreign workers with work permits will benefit from the extension of the automatic extension of work permits.