Any non immigrant visa holders should obtain the EAD (Employment Authorization Document) card before they engage in any work. In this light, international students who apply for OPT (Optional Practical Training) complete the Form I-765, which is an application for EAD card. USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), which adjudicates the application and ship out EAD cards, run the agency mostly with application fees. However, recent announcements by the President Trump that suspends issuance of certain work visas and Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR, green card) disturbed the income source of USCIS. To mitigate the risk, USCIS announced that around 70% of their employees are going to be furloughed starting from August which, in turn, cause the EAD card production delay. What is more, the Ombudsman office today announced that USCIS is going through hard times printing LPR and EAD cards (Click Related blog post 2 to learn more about the Ombudsman office). If you have already applied for OPT and waiting for EAD card to be arrived or if you are planning to apply for OPT in upcoming semester, read the post throughly to be well prepared for what to do.
Related blog post 1: USCIS gov processing time will take longer than ever
Related blog post 2: I haven’t received my EAD; OPT EAD processing time
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USCIS printing issues
According to the recent announcement by the Ombudsman, USCIS has been outsourcing the printing job to the third company. When the contract came to the end, however, USCIS decided not to renew the contract but hire federal employees to replace the contractors. Unfortunately, hiring freeze kicked in and USCIS couldn’t hire more federal workers and it impacts their capacity to print out secure cards such as LPR and EAD. Given that USCIS will have to operate with approximately 30% of entire employees from August, printing issues add more burdens to current USCIS employees.
In June 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reduced its capacity to print secure documents, such as Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) Cards and Employment Authorization Documents, after it ended a contract with an outside company responsible for printing these cards.
OMBUDSMAN’S ALERT: CARD PRODUCTION DELAYS AT USCIS
Would there be no way for USCIS to renew the contract or to hire more federal employees? Well, there’s a hope for sure. In the previous blog post titled USCIS gov processing time will take longer than ever, it was mentioned that USCIS had applied for the financial assistance. If the request for $1.2 billion cash assistance is granted by the Congress, USCIS can, then, have financial resources to print out cards or to hire more workers. In the perfect world, USCIS might be able to process applications and issue cards like before in September. But we are living in unprecedented times and no one can guarantee anything.
USCIS expects these backlogs will continue for the foreseeable future. Should there be a furlough of USCIS employees on August 3, 2020, card production backlogs will likely increase.
OMBUDSMAN’S ALERT: CARD PRODUCTION DELAYS AT USCIS
Action plan for students: what should I do to prevent delays?
If you are a May graduate, it is high likely that you already applied for OPT. However, if you applied for OPT during the summer, you might be waiting for your EAD to be arrived. In addition, we are hoping that the financial request of USCIS is approved, but if that’s not happening, December graduates will be also impacted by what is going on. In this worst scenario, it is crucial to apply for OPT at the very earliest and choose the latest OPT start date. In terms of the earliest date that you can file the OPT and how to choose the OPT start date, two topics are going to be covered in the near future. Therefore, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
When it comes to checking out the average EAD card production and processing time, USCIS provides the webpage titled Check Case Processing Times where you can get the information. If your EAD card takes more than what the webpage says, you can reach out to the Ombudsman office. The Ombudsman office is sending weekly spreadsheets to USCIS to verify card requests are in line to be processed. Please note that the service is not for everybody. Anyone who would like to ask the Ombudsman to assist the case should meet certain criteria which can be found in the related blog post below. If you meet the requirements, you can submit a request for case assistance and seek assistance from the Ombudsman.
Related blog post: I haven’t received my EAD; OPT EAD processing time
In this post, two main culprits- lack of financial and human resources – of EAD card production delays were discussed. Based on the information that is currently available, the most feasible way to solve the issue seems getting financial assistances from the congress. If you are waiting for EAD card to be arrived outside of the normal processing time, you may take advantage of the Ombudsman. If you are planning to apply for OPT, it is advisable to be prepared well in advance to apply at the earliest available date.
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