EAD/AP Approval Time Discussion

Since we always bash USCIS for being inefficient/inconsiderate/in-general-pain, I thought I will share an experience to the contrary. I was under the stupid and wrong impression that just like H1B, you can continue working on EAD as long as you have applied for a renewal. Of course, this is not true, you need to have the renewed EAD card in hand to continue working past the expiration of the old EAD card. My wife's EAD is expiring in early April - and we applied for renewal only in last week of Feb. Going by the usual 60 days processing time, we were looking at a potential disruption to her job. But - today - we came to know that USCIS has approved our petition - a turnaround of less than a month.

I believe USCIS is prioritizing EAD/AP renewal applications based on the expiration dates. People who applied before us but with later expiration dates are still waiting. So kudos to USCIS! Giving priority to EAD renewals which are close to expiration is common-sense, we often don't give USCIS enough credit for common-sense, but in this case - they came through for us. Thank you USCIS.

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Originally Posted by imdeng

Since we always bash USCIS for being inefficient/inconsiderate/in-general-pain, I thought I will share an experience to the contrary. I was under the stupid and wrong impression that just like H1B, you can continue working on EAD as long as you have applied for a renewal. Of course, this is not true, you need to have the renewed EAD card in hand to continue working past the expiration of the old EAD card. My wife's EAD is expiring in early April - and we applied for renewal only in last week of Feb. Going by the usual 60 days processing time, we were looking at a potential disruption to her job. But - today - we came to know that USCIS has approved our petition - a turnaround of less than a month.

I believe USCIS is prioritizing EAD/AP renewal applications based on the expiration dates. People who applied before us but with later expiration dates are still waiting. So kudos to USCIS! Giving priority to EAD renewals which are close to expiration is common-sense, we often don't give USCIS enough credit for common-sense, but in this case - they came through for us. Thank you USCIS.

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I respectfully disagree, you just got lucky in the USCIS random picking of the applications. My current EAD expires on first week of April and I applied for renewal in first week of Jan. Mine is still in Initial Review. Requested USCIS to expedite the case, no updates on that yet. Also, I don't think they prioritize the applications by the expiration dates, to see what is expiration date, they need to open the file right? Do you think once they open the file and see the expiration date with enough time they will put it aside?

average processing time is less that one month - my wife's EAD was expiring in Mar. she applied in Jan 2nd week and got it Feb 2nd week (about a month).

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Originally Posted by sssbpgmgc

I respectfully disagree, you just got lucky in the USCIS random picking of the applications. My current EAD expires on first week of April and I applied for renewal in first week of Jan. Mine is still in Initial Review. Requested USCIS to expedite the case, no updates on that yet. Also, I don't think they prioritize the applications by the expiration dates, to see what is expiration date, they need to open the file right? Do you think once they open the file and see the expiration date with enough time they will put it aside?

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+1 I dont think they prioritize any application at all. They are USCIS, not our parents. I applied only 60 days in advance and had sleepless nights when I saw some cases being pending for 70+ days. But in fairness to USCIS when I applied to expedite request after 40 days of application I got an email saying they have granted expedite request and I got approval in 5 days after expedite request. Got EAD in hand 3 days after approval. They also approved wife's EAD a week after mine. So, they are human, but not our parents. :p

On EAD/AP renewal, I got 2 year extension from the date of renewal application got approval.
Is it the common practice to give extension from the date of renewal application was approved or should the new Combo card's validity be from the date of expiry of previous EAD/AP?

From October of last year, USICS started renewing some EAD applications from date of approval. I am yet to figure out the logic. I have seen many mentions of the same in trackitt and no issues reported by anyone.

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Originally Posted by SmileBaba

On EAD/AP renewal, I got 2 year extension from the date of renewal application got approval.
Is it the common practice to give extension from the date of renewal application was approved or should the new Combo card's validity be from the date of expiry of previous EAD/AP?

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Perhaps this is driven by the service center. Nebraska seems to be moving fast in EAD/AP Renewals.

We assumed that we can work just like on H1 B during EAD renewal. Well, turns out it was not and we submitted less than 60 days prior to EAD expiry. We were freaking out since it was 6 weeks and no response. Got ready to get back on H1 B again, applying for stamping etc.

I received mine in 4 weeks, but my husband did not. Then we called the customer service and raised a request to speed up because we could lose our home if we did not have a job. We got a response 5 days later that we do not qualify for expedition and have to wait for 90 days. But..within another 3 days my husband's EAD came through.. I guess we can never close our eyes even for a sec even after getting an EAD

So, I guess we just got lucky

I am glad it worked out for you. I had the same mis-impression about working on EAD renewal. It is true - you can not blink - always need to be aware of the paperwork requirements.

Was yours Nebraska Service Center? I guess Nebraska is working faster on EAD renewals - mine was Nebraska and a few more examples of 30-40 days processing are there in Trackitt.

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Originally Posted by RMS_V13

We assumed that we can work just like on H1 B during EAD renewal. Well, turns out it was not and we submitted less than 60 days prior to EAD expiry. We were freaking out since it was 6 weeks and no response. Got ready to get back on H1 B again, applying for stamping etc.

I received mine in 4 weeks, but my husband did not. Then we called the customer service and raised a request to speed up because we could lose our home if we did not have a job. We got a response 5 days later that we do not qualify for expedition and have to wait for 90 days. But..within another 3 days my husband's EAD came through.. I guess we can never close our eyes even for a sec even after getting an EAD

So, I guess we just got lucky

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