Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Due to the long waits for renewals, U.S. will allow expired work permits to be extended for a year. Citizenship and Immigration Services, (USCIS), announced Tuesday.

This temporary change was outlined in the final rule and will be effective Wednesday. The agency stated that it would prevent approximately 260,000 immigrants losing their work authorization within an 18 month period. USCIS also has time to remove the waiting list.

USCIS announced that while they are still pending their work permit applications, immigrant applicants who would normally be eligible for an automatic 180 day extension will receive an automatic extension of 540 days.

USCIS is the immigration agency that handles paperwork. In recent years USCIS has faced a lot of backlogs. This problem was exacerbated in part by budget cuts and slowdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. employers are having difficulty finding workers lately, since pandemic restrictions across the nation have been lifted, which has increased the importance of work permits.

USCIS posted a new rule on Tuesday stating that the delays created a “grave condition” for those applicants who had lost their employment authorizations while they were waiting to renew.

According to the agency, most of the work permit applicants affected by this extension include asylum seekers and certain immigrants who are seeking permanent residence.

The agency reported that processing times for applicants who seek asylum to renew their work permits increased to approximately 11 months in 2021, compared to seven months in 2017.

In April, Director Ur Jaddou stated that there were 8.5 million immigration cases pending at the agency. This includes those seeking citizenship or green cards.

According to her, more than half of the cases pending have required longer processing times than usual.