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 applications seeking a renewal of employment authorization and/or EAD before the current EAD expires.

Prior to May 4, 2022, Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) were automatically extended for up to 180 days upon expiration. On May 4, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) temporarily extended this period to an additional 360 days, resulting in a total extension of up to 540 days of authorization. However, DHS terminated this extended period on October 26, 2023, reverting the auto extension back to 180 days. 

Once again, on April 8th, 2024, DHS announced a temporary final rule (89 FR 24628), increasing the automatic extension period of employment authorization and/or Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766 or EAD) validity from 180 days to up to 540 days from the expiration date.

According to DHS, this temporary extension of employment authorization to up to 540 days applies to applicants who submitted Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization renewal applications on or after Oct. 27, 2023, and whose applications are still pending as of April 8, 2024. It also covers eligible applicants who submitted a Form I-765 renewal application on or after April 8, 2024, but no later than Sept 30, 2025. Following this temporary final rule, the automatic extension period for qualifying EADs will revert to up to 180 days for applicants who submit Form I-765 renewal applications after Sept. 30, 2025.

To enable the auto extension feature in Smart Onboarding/Smart I-9 applications, the following two setup options are required:

• Enable EAD Auto Extension Auto Create - Select this checkbox to enable a process that runs on weekdays (Monday to Friday) on a recurring basis. This process identifies transactions eligible for EAD auto extension and generates an additional I-9 task, extending the EAD expiration date by up to 540 days in Section 2.
• Summary Digest Notification Pool - Contains a list of contacts for sending email notification when auto creation of EAD extension process is triggered. 
  
  

For transactions that qualify for the EAD auto extension auto create process, an additional I-9 task will be generated, which includes a Section 2 activity for the I-9 Specialist. This Section 2 activity will be available for processing in edit mode, with the EAD expiration date extended by up to 540 days.

How to enable the auto create process for EAD auto extension?

To enable the auto create process for EAD auto extension, select the "Enable EAD Auto Extension Auto Create" checkbox on the I-9 Options page.

This activates a process that runs daily on weekdays (Monday to Friday) to identify eligible transactions and automatically create additional I-9 tasks for these transactions, extending EAD validity by up to 540 days.

Along with the EAD Auto Extension if you want to set up Reverification and/or Receipt update processes, enter those details as well and click "Save".

The email containing the total number of I-9s with generated additional I-9 tasks will be sent to the contacts listed in the notification pool.

What transactions are eligible for the EAD auto extension auto create process?

To be eligible for the EAD auto extension auto create process, transactions must meet the following conditions:

• The process associated with the I-9 ID must be in completed status (E-Verification completed), with the EAD as the selected document title, and the category code must match the eligibility category code/class requested for extension (Eligibility Category Codes: A03, A05, A07, A08, A10, A12, A17, A18, C08, C09, C10, C16, C19, C20, C22, C24, C26, C31) in Section 2. Note: Transactions that are completed with E-Verification on hold, such as "Applied for SSN," do not qualify for the EAD auto extension.

• The EAD expiration date in Section 2 must be current or set to expire within one or two days of the current date (current date +1 or current date +2) and meet one of the following criteria:

  • The expiration date in Section 2 is less than or equal to the work authorization expiration date in Section 1.
  • The "No Expiration Date" option is checked for work authorization with a Form I-94 Admission Number/Foreign Passport Number in Section 1.

• The I-9 should not have the reverification done.

• The I-9 must be in an active state and should not have the termination date set to the current date. If the termination date is set to the current date, the transaction will not be considered for EAD auto extension processing, even if it otherwise meets the extension criteria.

The above points are explained with examples below. 

Consider a process completed transaction satisfying the above conditions.

1) In Section 2, within the List A or List C document sections, the Document Title must be "Employment Authorization Document (EAD)," and the category code entered must correspond to the eligibility category code/class requested for the extension.

When the Document Title is Employment Auth Document (Form I-766), an additional field will be populated under this list to capture the eligibility category code. Selecting this field is optional.

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 the category code, the transaction will not be not eligible for the EAD auto extension.

2) The EAD expiration date in Section 2 must be current or set to expire within one or two days of the current date (current date +1 or current date +2) and meet one of the following criteria:

• The expiration date in Section 2 is less than or equal to the work authorization expiration date in Section 1.
• The "No Expiration Date" option is checked for work authorization with a Form I-94 Admission Number/Foreign Passport Number in Section 1.

Even if the transaction is eligible for EAD auto extension, it will not be processed by the auto create process until the EAD expiration date in Section 2 is current or set to expire within one or two days from the current date.

Below example shows one of the possible scenarios:

In this example, the Section 2 EAD document expiration date is equal to the work authorization expiration date in Section 1.

In this example, the EAD expiration date in Section 2 is equal to the work authorization expiration date in Section 1. Therefore, the transaction gets picked up for the EAD auto extension when the auto create process runs.

3) The I-9 should not have the Supplement B process initiated or completed 

Transactions that have gone through Supplement B for reverification will not be picked up for EAD auto extension. This can be verified for the transaction in its Form I-9 Master.

In this example, you can see the transaction has no Supplement B reverification data in its I-9 Master.

4) The I-9 should be active and must not have the termination date set to the current date, if one exists.

In this example, the I-9 is active and does not have a termination date set. To check if the I-9 has a termination date, navigate to the "Set/View Termination Date" page through "Info and Actions" in the I-9 Console.

If a termination date exists, it will be displayed on this page as well as in the I-9 Master. Since the termination date is not set for the selected I-9 ID, it will not appear on this page or in the I-9 Master.

For navigating to the I-9 Master, click the I-9 ID link for the corresponding I-9 in the I-9 Console and select the "I-9 Master" option.

How to complete Section 2 for EAD auto extended transactions?

The EAD auto extended transactions appear in the My Tasks Console and under the "My Tasks" category in Keyword Search for the I-9 Specialist. These transactions can be identified by their Business Process listed as "Sec-2 Corr|Receipt Upd|EAD Ext".

To process these transactions, search for the Invitation ID or name in the My Tasks Console or within the "My Tasks" category of Keyword Search. Select the "Complete I-9" link on the specific row. If the row does not appear in the My Tasks Console, it means the transaction has not been picked up by the auto create process.

Clicking the "Complete I-9" link will open the Section 2 activity.

The "Reason for I-9 Section 2 Correction" page will automatically be completed with the reason selected as "EAD Auto Extension". Since E-Verification has already been completed with the primary process, the E-Verify option will be set to "No."

A sample page of the completed activity is shown below.

In Section 2, the document expiration date is updated by adding 540 days to its previous expiration date. Additionally, an additional note stating "EAD EXT: Extended by 540 days" will be included in the Additional Information field. Review the extended EAD expiration date. In the Additional Information, enter if any note/comment has 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. 

Note: This alternative process is allowed only 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 appear disabled.

When this checkbox is selected, it is required to attach supporting documents. 

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. 

Note: Even if the checkbox for "Check here if you used an alternative procedure authorized by DHS to examine documents" is not selected, you may still be prompted to upload attachments, especially if they are configured as mandatory in I-9 activities. If prompted, please upload the required attachments.

After the details are reviewed and updated, select "I Agree" checkbox and electronically sign. 

Upon completion, the updated document expiration date will be reflected as the I-9 work authorization end date in the additional notes of the completed Section 2 activity as well as in the I-9 Master.