USCIS recently issued an ALERT that they will process EAD expedite requests on EAD renewals that are pending for Essential Healthcare and Public Health Workers. To be eligible to expedite your EAD renewal your current EAD must be set to expire within 30 days or have already expired. Also, you must be an Essential Healthcare or Public Health Worker as defined on pages 7 to 9 in the pdf ""Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response."" The pdf is attached to the linked Advisory Memorandum. The list is fairly exhaustive and includes many different types of workers including jobs that are necessary to support the healthcare and public health fields. The list includes ""Workers required for effective clinical, command, infrastructure, support service, administrative, security, and intelligence operations across the direct patient care and full healthcare and public health spectrum.""
If you have a pending EAD renewal you should take a close look at the list and see if you qualify for an EAD expedite. If you believe you qualify the instructions for obtaining an expedite have been outlined by USICS in their alert. USCIS requires that you call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833) to request expedited processing of your EAD based on your circumstance as a healthcare worker with an EAD that will expire within 30 days or has already expired. You will need to provide evidence of your profession or current employment as a qualified essential healthcare worker. To do this you should obtain a letter from your employer outlining your job responsibilities and how they fall within the guidelines set forth on pages 7 to 9 of the Advisory Memorandum.
If you are a current client and have a pending EAD renewal please contact us immediately so we can determine if you qualify for an expedite. If you have a pending EAD renewal and would like assistance in filing an expedite request please feel free to contact us.
UPDATE January 7, 2022: We have already had great success with this process. Our clients expedite requests are typically being approved within 48 hours of submitting the request along with a letter from their employer confirming their status as an Essential Healthcare or Public Health Worker.
