By Pedro Bianco
En esta noticia
The U.S. government has proposed a change that would affect hundreds of thousands of immigrants with pending asylum cases: tightening access to work permits (EAD). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal would extend the wait to apply to 365 days, or a full year, more than twice the current waiting period.
The measure is a proposed rule, published in the Federal Register in February 2026. It went through a public comment period that has now closed, and DHS must now review those comments before deciding whether to issue a final rule.
The administration seeks to tighten access to work permits (EADs): what are they proposing to change?
The core change is the waiting period. Today, an asylum applicant must wait until their case has been pending for a certain amount of time before applying for a work permit: the current system is known as the “180-day clock” (about 150 days to file the EAD application, plus processing time).
The proposal would extend that wait to 365 days from the time a complete asylum application is received. In practice, the minimum time before someone could apply for a permit would rise from about six months to a full year.
It would also change the deadline the government has to decide the work permit application: the current requirement to process it within 30 days would be replaced with one of up to 180 days for new applications.
The proposal is not limited to the waiting period. Among the most important points are:
- A biometric data requirement for all initial and renewal asylum work permit applications.
- A restriction for people who entered without inspection (without authorization) on or after the future effective date.
- Exclusion of people who filed for asylum more than a year after arriving in the country, unless an exception applies.
- New grounds that would bar applicants with certain criminal records.
- Acceptance of initial applications would be halted when average asylum processing times exceed 180 days, something the administration itself says could happen right away.
- The end of the work permit if the asylum case is denied at certain stages.
Who it would affect
If approved, the change would affect people with pending asylum applications who are seeking or already have the work permit tied to that case (the category known as (c)(8)). For that group, the impact would be direct: more time unable to work legally while they wait for a decision on their case.