This feature enables the automatic update of Form I-9 Section 2 to reflect the extended expiration date of an employee's Employment Authorization Document (EAD) in cases where their EAD has been automatically extended. It is applicable to all pending Form I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) submissions applications seeking a renewal of employment authorization and/or EAD before the current EAD expires.

Prior to May 4, 2022, the EADs' automatic extension period for expiration was 180 days. On May 4, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) temporarily extended this automatic extension period to an additional 360 days, resulting in a total extension of up to 540 days of authorization. However, DHS ended this extra additional extension period ended on as ofOctober 26, 2023. For Form I-765 renewal applications submitted after October 26, 2023, the regular  Following this update, the standard 180-day automatic extension period is now in effect. This is applicable to all transactions that are processed for EAD auto extension on or after October 26, 2023. 

To enable the auto extension feature in our system, the following two setup options are required:

• Enable EAD Auto Extension Auto Create - Check this checkbox if you wish to schedule a batch process which runs on weekdays (Monday to Friday) in recurrence for auto creating the transactions with EAD expiration date extending to 180 days.
• Summary Digest Notification Pool - Contains a list of contacts for sending email notification when auto creation of EAD extension process is triggered. 
  
  

When EAD Auto Extension is enabled, it launches invitations for the I-9s that are eligible for auto extension and opens Section 2 activity for the I-9 Specialists in edit mode with EAD expiration date extended upto up to 180 days. 

How to enable EAD Auto Extension Auto Create process in I-9 Options?

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For the transaction to be eligible for EAD auto extension, having a value in eligibility Category Code/Class Requested is required and the value must be one of the category codes - A03, A05, A07, A08, A10, A12, A17, A18, C08, C09, C10, C16, C19, C20, C22, C24, C26, C31.  . 

Note: If Section 2 is completed without selecting a value in category code, the transaction will not be not eligible for EAD auto extension.

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In this example, the I-9 is active and has no termination date set. Navigate to Set/View termination Date page through Info and Actions in I-9 Console.

If the termination date exists, then it would show up on this page and also in the I-9 Master. Since the Termination date is not set for the selected I-9 ID, there is no display of date on this page or in the I-9 Master.

How do you complete Section 2 for EAD auto extended transactions?

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Review the extended EAD expiration date. In the Additional Information enter if any note/comment needs to be added. If an alternative procedure is used for remote verification of documents, indicate this by selecting the "Check here if you used an alternative procedure authorized by DHS to examine documents" checkbox. 

If this checkbox is selected, system enforces to provide I-9 supporting documents as attachments in Section 2. In this case, any attachments provided in Section 1 will not be considered. For more details on uploading attachments, please click here.

Note: This alternative process is allowed exclusively when the Legal Entity (Company/Business Unit) responsible for the employee's hiring is registered for E-Verify, which means the Company or Business Unit has been configured in the DHS Client Setup. If the legal Entity (Company/Business Unit) is not enrolled in E-Verify, this checkbox will be disabled.

If the attachment is not provided, the following error message will be displayed on the page.

Note: If Section 2 is assigned to a remote user, and if the checkbox indicating "Check here if you used an alternative procedure authorized by DHS to examine documents" is checked by the remote user in Section 2, they are required to upload the supporting documents when completing the activity. In this case, the I-9 Specialist need not add the attachments while completing the Section 2 review.

After entering the details, check "I Agree" checkbox and electronically sign.

After completing this process, the extended expiration date in Section 2 is updated as Work Authorization End Date in I-9 Master (irrespective of the work authorization expiration date in I-9 Section 1).

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