A policy change by the United States government has ended the automatic 540-day extension previously granted to work permit holders in several immigration categories, a move that places foreign nationals — among them a considerable number of Indian workers — in a position where their authorisation to remain employed may lapse before renewal decisions are reached.

A final rule published by US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Wednesday made permanent the provisions that an interim measure had introduced on 30 October of the prior year. Introduced in May 2022, the measure aimed to address a mounting queue of renewal applications and prevent workers from losing their employment authorisation while documents awaited processing at facilities operating beyond capacity — an arrangement established under the Biden administration. A brief reinstatement of the provision in April 2024 gave way to an open-ended continuation when December of that year brought a further decision to keep it in place without a set expiry.

Revised rules issued under the policy remove automatic extension eligibility from a range of applicant groups — among them those pursuing adjustment of status, H-4 spouses, people seeking asylum, refugees, asylees, and individuals covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Spouses holding H-4 status, who depend on Employment Authorisation Documents to maintain their right to work, fall within the group affected by the policy changes. Workers whose authorisation documents lapse before renewal decisions are issued by USCIS face the prospect of pausing employment until fresh documentation arrives.

Not every overseas worker is affected equally once the adjustment takes hold. Those holding F-1 visas and pursuing a STEM-based extension of their work authorisation retain access to a 180-day automatic extension, provided paperwork reaches the relevant office before the filing deadline. Dependent partners of L and E visa holders retain their employment authorisation by virtue of their immigration status alone, with no separate EAD document required.

Adjustments put forward by the administration would alter how visa renewals are handled, potentially raising the bar for overseas workers — H-1B holders among them — seeking to extend their status. Under that plan, the established convention of treating prior approvals as a baseline when adjudicating extension requests from certain non-immigrant workers would be discontinued. Under the proposed guidelines, every application submitted to USCIS officers would be assessed on its own record rather than against the outcomes of prior cases. Even applications that had already cleared USCIS review would be subject to additional examination.

Among the downstream effects analysts point to are a rise in Requests for Evidence, stricter documentation thresholds, extended timelines for case adjudication, and higher outlays tied to legal counsel and administrative compliance. Under a proposed rule change, companies filing to extend a worker's visa status could face documentation requirements as thorough as those demanded at the time of the original application — even where prior approvals already exist on record. Written submissions on the proposal are being accepted by the Department of Homeland Security through 13 November.

The adjustments to visa extensions are still being worked through and stand apart from the work permit rule as a distinct measure yet to be confirmed.

Ajay Jain Bhutoria, an immigration attorney and one-time White House adviser, voiced opposition to the administration's move to formally codify the removal of the 540-day automatic work permit extension, stating that the decision to make that policy change permanent was one he opposed. He warned that the policy change stood to negatively affect people on legal immigration pathways and households that depend on work authorisation permits to sustain themselves in the United States, and characterised the measure as a setback for H-4 visa holders, healthcare workers, and others who use employment authorisation documents to contribute economically and support their families.

Workers from abroad — along with the families who depend on them — face added uncertainty about holding onto their employment and maintaining their immigration status under the two measures.