U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this week that it will implement a streamlined process to provide Employment Authorization Documents to eligible refugees after they are admitted to the United States.

Key Points:

• The new process was soft-launched last year on Dec. 10 following a successful trial period.
• The new process is fully automated with a digital version of Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, for arriving refugees.
• Adjudication will start as soon as refugees are admitted into the United States.
• The process will shorten the wait time for an EAD to approximately 30 days instead of several months.
• After USCIS approves a Form I-765, refugees will receive their EAD by mail within one to two weeks (the time frame may vary depending on delivery times).
• USCIS will also provide the Social Security Administration with the information required to assign a Social Security number and mail a Social Security card to the refugee.

Additional Information: Under U.S. law, a refugee is legally authorized to work as soon as they arrive in the United States. Obtaining proof of this work authorization in the form of an EAD was previously a cumbersome paper-based process that led to undue delays. This new process is the result of coordination across the U.S. government to support the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and refugee integration.