The Trump administration has finalised a rule ending automatic extensions of employment authorisation documents (EADs) for eligible foreign nationals awaiting renewal of their work permits. For the Indian diaspora, the move could adversely impact over a lakh Indian spouses, largely women, of H-1B visa holders caught in decades-long green card backlogs.Last month, the administration had also signalled a longer-term plan to remove H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B workers from the categories eligible for employment authorisation altogether.The rule finalised by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adopts, without change, an interim rule issued in October 2025 that ended automatic extensions for certain EAD renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025.Under the rule, filing a timely renewal application will no longer, by itself, allow eligible applicants to continue working beyond the expiry of their existing work permits while their applications are pending. The administration has said the measure is intended to strengthen vetting and screening before employment authorisation is renewed.The earlier framework, introduced in 2016, allowed eligible applicants to continue working for up to 180 days beyond the expiry of their EADs while renewal applications were processed. In 2022, the extension period was temporarily increased to 540 days and, from January 2025, made permanent to minimise employment disruptions caused by processing delays. The October 2025 interim rule withdrew this protection; the latest action codifies that change.The H-4 EAD provision itself was introduced in 2015, during the Obama administration, partly to address the difficulties faced by families (such as those from India) caught in lengthy employment-based green card backlogs. Under the provision, certain H-4 spouses could apply for work authorisation if their H-1B spouses were on the path to permanent residence or had obtained an extension beyond the normal six-year H-1B limit.A key challenge is that H-4 spouses can apply to renew their EADs only within 180 days of the expiry of their existing work permits. Since an H-4 spouse’s status extension must be filed alongside the H-1B worker’s extension, any delay by the employer in filing the H-1B petition can further narrow the window available for the dependent spouse’s renewal. With automatic extensions no longer available to those covered by the rule, applicants fear they could be forced to stop working while awaiting renewal of their EADs. Immigration attorneys have repeatedly flagged lengthy processing backlogs as a major concern.As of June 30, 2026, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported more than 4.32 lakh pending EAD renewal applications (including those filed by H-4 visa holders) that had been awaiting a decision for at least six months. Of these, 91,000 had been pending for over 18 months.The policy has also faced legal challenges. As reported by TOI earlier, in an order dated September 10, 2026, a US district court in the Central District of California granted a preliminary injunction in favour of seven plaintiffs who challenged the rule. The court held that DHS had failed to follow the procedure required under the Administrative Procedure Act when introducing it. The relief, however, was limited to the seven plaintiffs and did not apply nationwide.Spouses of L-1 visa holders, who are in the US on intra-company transfers, are not affected by this change, as eligible L-2 spouses do not require an EAD to work.Mitch Wexler, senior counsel at Fragomen, a global immigration law firm, pointed out that F-1 students applying for a STEM extension of employment authorisation are also not affected by the elimination of the maximum 540-day automatic extension. They continue to receive a 180-day automatic extension upon timely filing of their STEM EAD application under a separate regulatory provision.
