NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Washington, DC, October 14, 2026: The Trump administration has finalized a rule eliminating automatic work permit extensions of up to 540 days for certain immigrants awaiting renewal of their employment authorization, a move that could disrupt the careers of thousands of foreign workers, including Indian spouses of H-1B visa holders.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the final rule on October 13, making permanent a policy introduced in October 2025. The rule, published in the Federal Register on October 14, removes a protection that allowed eligible immigrants to continue working legally while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processed their work permit renewal applications.
The change is particularly significant for H-4 visa holders, many of them Indian women married to H-1B professionals, who rely on Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to pursue careers in the United States.
Under the previous policy, eligible workers who submitted their EAD renewal applications on time could continue working for up to 540 days after their existing permits expired, provided their applications remained pending and they met other eligibility requirements.
The extension was designed to prevent workers from losing their jobs because of government processing delays. USCIS temporarily increased the automatic extension period from 180 to 540 days in 2022, before making the longer period permanent in January 2025.
However, the Trump administration reversed that policy through an interim final rule effective October 30, 2025. The latest action makes that reversal permanent.
For affected immigrants, the consequences could be substantial. If their EAD expires before USCIS approves a renewal, they may have to stop working, even if they submitted their application on time and remain legally in the United States.
That could mean unpaid leave, interrupted careers, lost income or even job termination.
The change does not directly affect H-1B professionals whose employment authorization is tied to their approved visa status. Instead, it affects certain categories of immigrants who depend on separately issued work permits, including eligible H-4 spouses, green card applicants awaiting adjustment of status and certain asylum applicants.
For Indian families, the impact could be particularly significant because many H-4 EAD holders have built established careers in technology, healthcare, finance, education and other professional fields.
More than 100,000 Indian spouses, predominantly women, have been reported to hold employment authorization under the H-4 category. However, that figure does not establish how many will experience an interruption in employment under the new policy.
DHS defended the policy change as necessary to strengthen immigration screening and ensure that individuals remain eligible for employment authorization before receiving another work permit.
In its final rule, the department said the previous system allowed employment authorization to continue without USCIS first completing a fresh eligibility review and security checks.
The administration maintains that requiring approval before extending work authorization will strengthen the integrity of the immigration system.
However, critics argue that the change penalizes immigrants for processing delays beyond their control and could create staffing problems for American employers.
The government’s own economic analysis acknowledges the potential consequences. DHS estimates that between 20,000 and 33,000 work permits could lapse during an 18-month period beginning in May 2027 under the assumptions used in its analysis.
The department also projects approximately $138.1 million in lost productivity costs, $312.1 million in potential labor turnover costs for U.S. employers and $14.5 million in reduced tax revenue over that period. It estimates that between 1,700 and 2,800 employers could be affected.
The policy has also faced a legal challenge from H-4 spouses.
In September 2026, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in California granted a preliminary injunction to seven H-4 visa holders who challenged the October 2025 rule.
The court found that DHS had not adequately justified bypassing the usual public notice-and-comment process when introducing the restriction.
However, the ruling provided relief only to the seven plaintiffs. It did not restore automatic work permit extensions nationwide, leaving the broader H-4 community subject to the administration’s policy.
The latest final rule follows that legal challenge and could become part of further litigation over the administration’s authority to eliminate automatic extensions.
There are important exceptions to the policy. Immigrants who qualified for automatic extensions through renewal applications filed before October 30, 2025, retain those protections. Certain extensions provided by law or through Federal Register notices, including some Temporary Protected Status provisions, also remain unaffected.
For those filing renewals on or after October 30, 2025, however, an application receipt generally no longer provides automatic permission to continue working after the existing EAD expires.
USCIS advises eligible applicants to file renewal applications as early as 180 days before expiration, although early filing does not guarantee that a new permit will arrive in time.
For Indian H-4 spouses, the change adds another layer of uncertainty to an immigration process already shaped by long green card backlogs, visa renewals and dependence on a spouse’s immigration status.
