The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Thursday announced changes that sharply reduced the maximum validity period of employment authorization documents (EAD) for several categories of foreign nationals, citing security concerns and legislation signed earlier this year.
The move, the latest in a broad immigration crackdown by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, came just two days after it halted immigration applications for citizens of 19 countries.
Under the new rules, the maximum validity period for initial and renewal EADs has been reduced from five years to 18 months for categories including refugees, asylum seekers, those who have been granted withholding of deportation or removal, and applicants with pending adjustment of status or relief applications.
Additional categories, including those on refugee parole, granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or on Entrepreneur Parole, will have the validity of their work permit reduced to one year or the end date of their authorized parole or TPS period, whichever is shorter.
These changes apply to applications pending or submitted on or after December 5, 2025 or July 22, 2025, depending on the category.
“Reduced maximum validity periods will result in more frequent screening of foreign nationals applying for authorization to work in the United States,” the agency said.
The agency added that after the attack on National Guard service members in Washington earlier this month, “it is even clearer that USCIS must conduct frequent investigations of aliens.”
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow linked the change directly to security concerns.
“Reducing the maximum validity period for employment authorization will ensure that those seeking to work in the United States do not threaten public safety or promote harmful anti-American ideologies,” he said.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that the United States plans to expand the number of countries covered by its travel ban to more than 30.
After a meeting with Trump on Monday, he said he was recommending a complete ban on travel to “all the damn countries that have been flooding our nation with murderers, leeches and welfare addicts.”
All asylum cases on hold
Earlier this week, the Trump administration imposed the broadest domestic freeze on immigration benefits in decades, ordering USCIS to halt all asylum adjudications and suspend a broad range of applications from nationals of 19 “high-risk” countries, while reopening thousands of previously approved cases for new security checks.
The directive, issued to USCIS field offices, followed a series of violent incidents involving Afghan nationals admitted under previous programs. Those cases led the White House to conclude that vetting procedures between 2021 and 2024 were “dangerously insufficient,” triggering a review of the entire immigration enforcement system.
The USCIS memo ordered officials to immediately suspend all asylum applications, regardless of nationality. This included applicants from countries rarely associated with security concerns. Immigration lawyers said they were not aware of any previous cases in which asylum awards had been frozen across the board.
The order also suspended all applications for immigration benefits filed by nationals of the 19 restricted countries. These included petitions for green cards, replacement green cards, travel documents, parole extensions, and applications to preserve continuous residence for naturalization. Even routine services, such as replacing a lost green card, were suspended.
USCIS officials were also directed to reopen and re-examine all approved immigration benefits granted to nationals of the listed countries who entered the U.S. on or after January 20, 2021. Mandatory interviews would be required in many cases, with no possibility of waiver, and cases may be referred to authorities if concerns arose during the review.
Additional information from AFP
