U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has also made it even easier for refugees to apply for their Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), which reduces the time required for refugees to become employed in the U.S. Refugees coming into the U.S. will no longer have to wait months for EADs — it’ll take just 30 days. This will make it much easier for refugees to settle down in the U.Sd earn a living and support their families, all much sooner.
What’s New With Refugee Work Authorization?
The new system will make it faster for refugees to obtain work permits. When a refugee arrives in the US, USCIS automatically prepares and completes an Application for Employment Authorization (Application for Employment Authorization) for them. This takes the place of refugees having to go through manual work permits, a cumbersome, paper-based procedure.
After submitting Form I-765, refugees receive their EAD cards via mail within one to two weeks. This expedited process means refugees can get employment in the United States much sooner.
Further, USCIS will electronically transfer this information to the Social Security Administration (SSA) so that refugees are assigned a Social Security number and issued their Social Security cards. Armed with these key documents, refugees will be in a position to secure employment and start making contributions to the U.S. economy from day one.
When Does the New Process Come into Play?
The simplified application will cover all refugees admitted to the United States after 10 December 2023. They will receive their EAD and Social Security cards via the new expedited process, which is faster and shorter to process.
Why This Change Matters
Before this new regime, refugees had to apply for work authorization through a complex and slow paper process. The old system put refugees in line for months to work legally. This automated process is a massive improvement in getting refugees the EAD cards they need much quicker and getting them out of poverty much faster.
Immigration advocates have welcomed the amendments because getting a work permit and a Social Security number is an essential prerequisite for refugees to start a life in the US. These revisions are viewed as part of USCIS’s overall aim to make immigration more efficient and faster for everyone.
USCIS’s Initiative to Facilitate the Immigrant Process.
These updates signal USCIS’s ongoing efforts to enhance the customer experience by using technology to automate immigration processes. With the automation and streamlining of processes such as refugees’ EAD applications, USCIS hopes to decrease delays and ensure refugees arrive in the U.S. on time.
This update is a success for refugees and one that’s also a step toward modernizing US immigration procedures so that the process moves more quickly and efficiently to the very people who need it most.
If you’re a refugee or refugee advocate, this reform will speed up getting the work permit needed to work in the US, and refugees will be able to become more quickly integrated into their new communities.
