Delayed production of employment authorization documents (EAD) and legal permanent resident cards (LPR)

AILA Doc. No 20071530 | Dated July 14, 2020

In recent weeks, AILA has received reports from members of delays in issuing EADs and green cards for some immigration applications based on employment, family and asylum.

On July 9, the Washington Post reported that the USCIS has closed the printing of documents evidencing legal status and work authorization for immigrants and non-immigrants, including green cards and employment authorization documents (EAD), in Corbin, KY, weeks ago, and the USCIS has escalated post-printing at the second facility in Lee's Summit, MO, resulting in massive delays. USCIS blames "financial concerns" for not renewing the contract with the printer despite never alerting Congress. According to a USCIS, approximately 50,000 green cards and 75,000 other employment authorization documents promised to immigrants and non-immigrants have not been printed.

If your client has been affected by USCIS's failure to provide evidence of legal status and work authorization for their client, the AILA Administrative Litigation Task Force (ALTF) provides a sample complaint for a brief of mandamus for compel USCIS to issue the plaintiff's EAD after USCIS failed to issue the EAD within a reasonable time after the agency's approval of the plaintiff's application for employment authorization.
In light of the USCIS $ 1.200 billion funding crisis, AILA encourages its members to take action by contacting their members of Congress and urging them to ensure that USCIS has funding, but that such funding should be contingent on changes. key focus on transparency, fiscal responsibility and efficiency. . Also request that your members of Congress support the Bipartisan Case Transparency and Backlog Act of 2020 (HR 5971) to address the crisis-level delays that are paralyzing the agency's case processing.