The Immigrant & Employee Rights Section of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division recently clarified policy with respect to employment authorization documents (EADs) based on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) automatic extension of their validity for individuals with temporary protected status from Honduras and Nicaragua. An email to the related DOJ listserv sent January 5, 2018, stated:

If your employee has an Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766, often referred to as an “EAD”) with an original expiration date of January 5, 2018 and containing the category code “A-12” or “C-19,” this EAD is automatically extended and the employee may continue to work without a new one (and without a receipt notice) through the end of the automatic extension period. TPS Honduras EADs have been automatically extended for six months, through July 4, 2018. TPS Nicaragua EADs have been automatically extended for 60 days, through March 6, 2018.

The email notes that in addition, some EAD holders, including those with TPS who already applied to renew an EAD, may choose to show their existing EADs with a qualifying I-797C receipt notice. For both TPS Honduras and TPS Nicaragua, this combination of documents allows the employee to work through July 4, 2018 (instead of until March 6 for a TPS Nicaragua employee who chooses to show their automatically-extended EAD only), DOJ said.

For employers that have an existing employee who presented an EAD that has now been automatically extended, the employee’s Form I-9 should be updated to reflect the extension:

1. For Section 1, the employee may:

  1. Draw a line through the expiration date.
  2. Write the new expiration date above the previous date.
    1. TPS Honduras employees as well as TPS Nicaragua employees who choose to show their EAD and qualifying receipt notice should write “July 4, 2018.”
    2. TPS Nicaragua employees who choose to show only their automatically extended EAD should write “March 6, 2018.”
  3. Initial and date the correction in the margin of Section 1.

2. For Section 2, employers should:

  1. Draw a line through the expiration date written in Section 2.
  2. Write the new expiration date above the previous date.
    1. “July 4, 2018” for all TPS Honduras employees as well as TPS Nicaragua employees who show their EAD and qualifying receipt notice.
    2. “March 6, 2018” for TPS Nicaragua employees who choose to show only their automatically extended EAD.
  3. Initial and date the correction in the margin of Section 2.

The new announcement referenced additional information on when an employee can choose to show their EAD and I-797C, in a USCIS fact sheet issued last year.