Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (December 8, 2025) - On
December 4, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
updated its policy manual to reduce the maximum validity period for
Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for certain categories of
noncitizens.The update also incorporates changes to these EAD
validity periods made by recent legislation.
In its
press release announcing the update, USCIS touted the change as
a means of ensuring "proper vetting and screening of"
noncitizens, which the agency said will enable it to "deter
fraud" and detect noncitizens "with potentially harmful
intent" and process them for removal from the U.S.
Pursuant to the update, the maximum validity period for both
initial and renewal EADs will be cut from five years to 18 months
for the following categories of noncitizens:
