E and L dependent spouses recognized as work-authorized by status

Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix

Operative dateNovember 12, 2021

CategoryDependent-spouse employment authorization

Policy toolEmployment authorization incident to status

Affected groupQualifying e and l dependent spouses, excluding tecro/teco dependents and spouses of e-2 cnmi investors

Policy effect

From November 12, 2021, USCIS treated qualifying E and L dependent spouses as employment authorized incident to their valid nonimmigrant status, replacing the prior requirement to obtain authorization through a Form I-765 adjudication. They could still request an Employment Authorization Document. Until Form I-94 was revised to distinguish spouses from dependent children, an I-94 showing only E or L status was insufficient for Form I-9, and spouses still needed an EAD as employment-authorization evidence for employers. The incident-to-status policy excluded dependents of TECRO and TECO employees and spouses of E-2 CNMI investors.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: From November 12, 2021, USCIS treated qualifying E and L dependent spouses as employment authorized incident to their valid nonimmigrant status, replacing the prior requirement to obtain authorization through a Form I-765 adjudication.; Until Form I-94 was revised to distinguish spouses from dependent children, an I-94 showing only E or L status was insufficient for Form I-9, and spouses still needed an EAD as employment-authorization evidence for employers.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

L dependent spouses will qualify for the automatic extension provided under this regulatory provision if certain conditions are met. Accordingly, a document combination to include an unexpired Form I-94, Form I-797C (Notice of Action) showing a timely-filed EAD renewal application, and facially expired EAD may be acceptable to evidence unexpired employment authorization for Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) purposes. In addition, USCIS is also clarifying that it will consider E and L dependent spouses to be employment authorized incident to their valid E or L nonimmigrant status. … authorization by filing an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I- 765) and receive an EAD before beginning employment. Therefore, the 2002 INS memorandum is superseded by this updated policy guidance. USCIS will continue to issue E and L dependent spouses EADs upon request via Form I-765; such EADs are acceptable for Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) as List A documents (documents evidencing both employment authorization and identity). DHS will immediately take steps to modify Forms I-94 evidencing nonimmigrant status issued to E and L dependents so that E and L dependent spouses … the previous EAD, and are acceptable to present to employers for Form I-9 purposes: Form I-94 indicating the unexpired nonimmigrant status (H-4, E, or L), Form I-797C for a timely-filed EAD renewal application (Form I-765) stating “Class requested” as “(a)(17),” “(a)(18),” or “(c)(26),” and the facially expired EAD issued under the same category (that is, indicating Category A17, A18, or C26). • Provides that E and L dependent spouses are employment authorized incident to their status and therefore they are no longer required to request employment authorization by filing Form I-765 but may continue … Employment Authorization for Certain H-4, E, and L Nonimmigrant Dependent Spouses Page: 7 the statute, it is also a permissible interpretation to deem these individuals employment authorized incident to status and to rely upon other documentation, such as a clearly endorsed I-94 combined with a valid identity document, to fulfill the statutory requirement to “provide the spouse with an ‘employment authorized’ endorsement or other appropriate work permit.” After careful consideration, USCIS has concluded that to continue to adhere to the case-by-case policy despite the high risk of gaps in employment authorization will result in USCIS’ failure to meet the directive under the statute to grant employment authorization to this population. Therefore, in order to meet its statutory obligation, USCIS is changing its current policy requiring case-by-case adjudication of requests of employment authorization and instead will deem E and L dependent spouses employment authorized incident to their E and L nonimmigrant status. 20 USCIS believes that this change would help reduce backlogs by eliminating the Form I-765 requirement for E and L dependent spouses prior to being eligible to engage in …

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesUSCIS Policy Alert PA-2021-25: Employment Authorization for Certain H-4, E, and L Nonimmigrant Dependent SpousesOpen official source

Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-updates/20211112-EmploymentAuthorization.pdf

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Automated source validation is not independent human legal review. The finding should not be treated as legal advice. Record fcp3-cc3dcd96626ec011f807. Something wrong? Flag this record.

E and L dependent spouses recognized as work-authorized by status

Policy effect

Conditions and exceptions

Official source excerpt

Review method

Other United States changes operative in 2021