QueueCheckofficial waits, shared datesUSCIS work permit (EAD) processing time
10 months-12 months
The latest official timing. Reader reports below are separate and do not change it.
Last checked August 14, 2026.
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Current wait at a glance
Official information beside reader reports, kept clearly separate.
Official wait
10 months to 12 months
This is the current official timing. Reader reports are shown separately.
Updated Aug 14
The official figure is the only timing on this page so far. Reader comparisons appear here once people share their dates below.
Official updates over time
Official history chart
How the official wait has changed over time. When the official figure is a range, the chart plots its midpoint.
USCIS work permit (I-765, adjustment-based (c)(9)): use the USCIS processing-times tool for the current figure; trackers report timing that varies widely by service center
Updated Aug 14, 2026, 9:20 AM
10 months-12 months
USCIS work permit (I-765, adjustment-based (c)(9)): USCIS completes 80% of cases within about 10.5 months at the National Benefits Center and about 12 months at its service centers. Other I-765 categories such as student OPT or renewals differ.
Updated Jul 20, 2026, 2:18 PM
10 months-12 months
USCIS work permit (I-765): timing varies sharply by category; use the official processing-times tool for your category and service center
Updated Jul 18, 2026, 10:04 AM
Guidance
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Reading the USCIS work permit (EAD) figure
The automatic extension that renewals used to carry
For years a timely filed renewal carried its own safety net: the existing work permit was automatically extended while the new one was adjudicated, so a slow decision did not by itself stop someone working. An interim final rule effective 30 October 2025 removed that automatic extension for renewal applications filed on or after that date. Renewals filed before it keep the extension they already had. The published processing figure means something different either side of that line, because on one side it describes an inconvenience and on the other it describes a gap in the right to work.
What the change left standing
Two kinds of extension sit outside the rule and were not removed by it: extensions granted for Temporary Protected Status through a Federal Register notice, and extensions that exist by statute rather than by regulation, of which the STEM extension available to some students is the one most people encounter. Anyone in those groups is reading a different set of rules from the ordinary renewal applicant, and the distinction is not visible on the face of a receipt notice.
The rule is being litigated
The change was made as an interim final rule, without the usual notice-and-comment period, and it has been challenged in federal court on that basis and as arbitrary and capricious. Litigation of this kind can alter what applies to applications that are already pending, in either direction and without much warning. That is a reason to check the position at the time it matters to you rather than to rely on any description of it written earlier, including this one.
The category on the form is the variable
One form covers work authorisation for people in situations that have almost nothing in common: adjustment applicants, students, spouses of certain visa holders, asylum seekers, and holders of humanitarian status. The eligibility category selected on the application determines the queue, the evidence, and whether any extension applies at all. A published figure that averages across those categories describes no individual applicant particularly well.
Complete timeline guide
EAD work permit timeline in 2026: categories, renewals, and the October 2025 rule
How long the I-765 work permit takes in 2026 by category, which renewals lost automatic extensions after October 30, 2025, and how to plan for a possible work gap.
Read the full stage-by-stage guide
News
Recent official updates connected to this queue.
Aug 28, 2026
USCIS now rejects older Form I-589 editions
USCIS now accepts only the 07/28/26 edition of Form I-589, the application for asylum and withholding of removal. Check the edition date at the bottom of the form before filing.
Aug 28, 2026
Federal Court Order Requires USCIS to Return Affected Held Cases to Its Normal Queue
USCIS says a federal court ordered the agency to stop applying two benefit-hold policies to the nationwide class in Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Edlow and to place affected pending cases back into normal adjudication. The order does not set a universal date by which USCIS must decide a case.
Aug 26, 2026
USCIS Refreshes 30-Day Protection and Escalation Steps for Delayed Initial Asylum EADs
USCIS updated its Rosario class-action guidance on August 26, 2026, restating the 30-day adjudication protection for qualifying initial asylum-based EAD applications and setting out the inquiry and escalation route when the clock is close to expiring or has expired.
Jul 27, 2026
USCIS can now send asylum cases to immigration judges without an interview
An interim final rule effective immediately lets USCIS refer affirmative asylum applications to immigration judges without holding an asylum interview first. A referral is not a denial, and it is not nothing either: it moves a case into immigration court. Here is what changes and what to do about it.