But there is a risk it might become more common. It is quite likely that in 3-4 months from now, USCIS will fail to renew EADs in 90 days for almost everyone. And people will lose their jobs unless they have their green cards before they need their next EAD renewal.
Why?
Recently, in last 2 months, USCIS has been assigned additional work without any additional budget. They cannot get more employees to do this additional work without having additional money to hire people. The current resources from existing petitions will be diverted to these new tasks unless there is a new budget. This is mainly due to a recent decision by the Obama Administration to grant deferred action to young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, the already strained resources of USCIS may reach the breaking point. Estimates are that up to 1.8 million applications will be filed under the new deferred action policy. Read the last 2 paragraphs of this DHS memo from June 15th 2012.
How do we know about this?
A recent letter by 2 members of Congress to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano raises real questions about how those new applications will impact the handling of applications for EADs by employment-based immigrants stuck in the backlog. Put simply, there are no new resources to process these 1.8 million new applications.
What will happen?
Does this mean that the same adjudicators currently reviewing EAD applications will now be assigned to review deferred action petitions? If so, the time for EAD approvals could increase well beyond the 120 limit, putting EADs at risk. Some estimate that EAD and Advance Parole processing times for EB-2 and EB-3 applicants could increase from 90 days to 180 days or more.
What will happen if you are EAD?
You lose your job. In some states you may even lose your driver’s license. Some employers tend to hire people back. Others may not re-hire when EAD is approved.
How will USCIS and DHS react?
While it's too early to tell exactly how this will play out, it does not appear that USCIS has added adjudicators to handle the expected 1.8 million deferred action applications. This isn't the fault of those seeking deferred action. These young people brought here as children are no more at fault than the rest of us caught in the broken immigration system. Like us, they are stuck in a system that needs more resources and a real statutory reform.
What we should do?
So what can we do about this new risk? The first task has to be getting rid of the decades-long green card backlog. If we could get our green cards on the same terms as immigrants from other countries, we wouldn't be stuck requiring EADs for years on end. Stand up for what's right. If we're going to convince Washington to take action to fix the backlog, we all need to speak up or else we are all doomed.
