How Long Does it Take to Get Work Authorization with Asylum?

You may be immediately authorized to obtain employment once the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approves your Form I-589, Application for Asylum and Withholding of Removal. While this may be great news you do not want to take for granted, you may still wonder whether you can legally work in the country during this typically long waiting period. For this, please continue reading to learn how long it takes to get work authorization with a pending asylum case and how an experienced Lyndhurst employment immigration attorney at the Law Offices of Salvatore A. Falletta can help you get this status.

How long does it take to get work authorization with a pending asylum case?

First of all, to officially get work authorization during your pending asylum case, you must separately fill out and file Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization with the USCIS. However, you can only bring forward this form once your asylum application has already been pending for at least 150 days. Then, if approved, the USCIS cannot issue you with an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) for an additional 30 days after these 150 days. In short, you may have to sit through a 180-day waiting period or longer before being able to participate in any employment activity.

What might cause delays in getting work authorization at this time?

Unfortunately, the USCIS may experience significant backlogs in their application system, staffing shortages, or otherwise have to comply with extensive legal procedures that may cause your pending asylum case to last longer than 180 days. That is, while they may get back to you and issue an EAD after 30 days, it may more realistically take them up to four months to do so. But it is also possible for you to singlehandedly cause, or even request, a delay in your asylum case proceedings. Below are specific examples of this:

• You may have requested to transfer your asylum case to a new office location.
• You may have requested to change your asylum interview to a later date.
• You may have failed to appear at your scheduled asylum interview or biometrics exam.
• You may have failed to bring a qualified language interpreter to your asylum interview.
• You may have failed to receive or acknowledge an asylum decision in person, if requested of you.

And so, with any request or cause for delay, the 180-Day Asylum EAD Clock may halt. It may only resume once you attend your first hearing with an immigration law judge. Meaning that it may take you much longer to reach with 180-day requirement. This is unless you can effectively prove that you requested or caused a delay in your asylum case for good reason.

To conclude, you must be fully equipped to enter your upcoming asylum case proceedings. Your preparation is incomplete without hiring a skilled Lyndhurst employment immigration attorney. Contact the Law Offices of Salvatore A. Falletta today.