Slow processing times at USCIS continue to pose challenges for employers, employees

Processing times for visa petitions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continue to be very slow across most employment-based and other visa categories. The Trump administration focused U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resources on other priorities such as border enforcement, and benefits processing times at USCIS became very long. The Biden administration has been trying to improve the times but with limited success so far because of backlogs, lingering resource challenges, and limited in-person staffing and operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In particular, the long processing times are causing extreme difficulties for employers and employees. In the past, USCIS processed applications for work authorization within five months, but now they can take a year or more, even for renewals. When work authorization documents expire, the employer must reverify the employee’s Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification.

USCIS has offered a blanket extension of employment authorization for 180 days based on timely filed, pending renewals, but the processing is so slow that even the automatic extensions are expiring before the agency can issue the new employment authorization document. Employers are facing serious problems when an employee’s I-9 expires but their timely filed application for renewal of employment authorization hasn’t been adjudicated. Employees aren’t allowed to work after the automatic extension expires.