How to file USCIS EAD Expedite Request (Job Loss, Medical Reason)

You can and should raise an expedite request if your EAD is pending and you are on the verge of losing your job.

• H4/L2 extension pending biometric, EAD pending: Your EAD cannot be approved until the H4 extension is approved. At this time, USCIS has waived the biometrics for two years from May 2021 onwards.
• Biometric Completed/Reused/Waived, EAD pending: You should try and raise an expedite request if EAD is pending for more than 90 days. You have a good chance of approval.
• Green Card i485 EAD: Biometric is needed for i765 EAD filed with i485 AOS application. Your EAD can be approved even when i140 is pending. USCIS may send biometric for child under 14 or may decide to waive it. Recently with the influx of EB2 to EB3 downagrade i485 filing, they have waived child i765 biometrics.

Many people reported that USCIS is approving their EAD expedite request if the job is in the medical field or your employer has a healthcare-related business.

How to Raise Expedite Request?

You will need your USCIS EAD case receipt number to create an EAD expedite request.

Expedite Timeline

Once you raise your EAD-expedite request, USCIS creates a case and sends it to the USCIS service center where it is currently pending. You can see the case updates on the case status website as:

Your case will then be reviewed by the USCIS case officer and he will decide if more documentary proof is required or not.

If the officer wants more information, you will receive an email from the USCIS case officer. This email will have this text:

You should respond back with the evidence to the USCIS email address as early as possible.

Once your EAD expedite request is approved by the USCIS case officer, you will get another email with this text:

The processing time will be mentioned as 45 days but the EAD approvals are given within 10 days of this email.

Chance of Approval

1. EAD expedite chances for financial loss, job loss is just 1%.
2. EAD expedite chances for financial loss, job loss with Congressman letter rise to 20%.
3. EAD expedite chances for MEDICAL emergency + financial loss + job loss are very good at 90%.

CongressMan – Good Chance

You can find your congressman based on your address and request them to send this ‘expedite request’ to USCIS on your behalf.

You will still need the supporting documents for the expedite reason you give. Some people have successfully got their L2 and H4 EAD expedited within a day with the congressman’s help.

USCIS needs a strong reason to process your faster than other pending applications. You can use one of the following reasons:

Reasons for EAD Expedite

#1 Severe Financial Loss to Company or ​Person​

Top reasons for EAD expedite financial loss to mention in EAD expedite cover letter:

1. You will lose your job if your H4 EAD renewal is not approved before the current EAD’s expiry.
2. Your job offer will expire if new L2 EAD is not approved before a certain date.
3. You are joining a start-up company that is investing in a new project that needs immediate resources and you are one of them. The company will suffer huge losses if the project is delayed if they do not start by a certain date.
4. Mortgage payments cannot be made if you lose your job.
5. Child support cannot be paid if you do not join the new job offer that you have got. – Good reason.
6. Medical treatment costs cannot be paid if you do not continue your EAD job – This is the strongest reason out of all above.

Documents to prove a financial loss for EAD expedite

1. Letter from employer stating you have to provide EAD status to continue working.
2. Job Offer letter
3. Employment agreement
4. Medical documents of parents’ treatment and expenses (if any) – This is very important as this can make the difference between expediting request approval and denial.
5. Child support documents  

A user recently reported that their L2 EAD expedites request was approved based on the above set of documents and medical conditions.

EAD expedite request chances of Approval without any medical financial reason are very low.

#2 Humanitarian reasons

If there is an Outbreak of war in your home country, you may be given a US work permit faster than others.

This is very tough to prove but if you can, your i485 or other asylum EAD has very good chances of Approval faster.

#3 USCIS​ Interest

Department of Defense or national interest situation or DHS cases have good chances of expedited approval. The request should be made by the official U.S. government officials and show that the EAD approval delay will cause losses to the government.

#4 USCIS Error

If USCIS made a mistake in your last EAD application, your chances of EAD expedite requests are brighter with current pending work authorization requests.

With unusually high current EAD processing time and no automatic temporary EAD extension of 180 days available, this expedited request is the only option for H4 and L2 EAD workers.

Financial Loss Sample Letter

You can file EAD expedite request with USCIS for the reason that you or a dependent is extremely ill with a disease. You will be required to submit the proof of illness with the Doctor’s opinion letter.

Denial for Financial/Employment Loss

Many people have reported that they have received an expedite request denial when they raised H4 EAD through congresswoman based on financial loss due to job loss:

FAQ

Reference: USCIS