This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh, Fredrikson Immigration Department Chair, is a member.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) acknowledged production delays in printing Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, USCIS said, foreign nationals may use Form I-797, Notice of Action, with a notice date “on or after December 1, 2019, through and including August 20, 2020,” informing the applicant of approval of Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, as a Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) List C #7 document that establishes work authorization, even though the notice states it is not evidence of that. “Employees may present their Form I-797 Notice of Action showing approval of their I-765 application as a List C document for Form I-9 compliance until December 1, 2020,” USCIS said.
For I-9 completion, employees who present a Form I-797 Notice of Action described above for new employment must also present their employer with an acceptable List B document that establishes identity. By December 1, 2020, USCIS said, employers must reverify employees who presented the I-797 Notice of Action as a List C document. “These employees will need to present their employers with new evidence of employment authorization from either List A or List C,” USCIS said.
This flexible policy is part of a proposed settlement to resolve a proposed class action lawsuit challenging delays in the printing of EADs. The lawsuit claims the agency has a printing backlog of approximately 75,000 EADs.
