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, you can set up the following options:

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

For transactions eligible for the EAD auto-extension process, an additional I-9 task will be generated. This task includes a Section 2 activity assigned to the I-9 Specialist, featuring the updated EAD expiration date extended by up to 540 days, ready for processing. Note: If the EAD auto extension feature is not enabled in your organization, the expiration date of the EAD can be extended manually by initiating the I-9 Section 2 Correction or Supplement B - Reverification for the Form I-9. 

How to enable the EAD auto create feature?

To enable the auto create feature for EAD auto extensions, 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 create process?

To be eligible for the EAD 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 either be current or expire within one or two days (current date +1 or current date +2) and meet one of the following conditions:

  • 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 selected for work authorization with a Form I-94 Admission Number or Foreign Passport Number in Section 1.
• Reverification must not have been completed for the I-9.
• 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 meets the other eligibility 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 expiring within one or two days from the current date.

Below example shows one of the possible scenarios:

Since the EAD expiration date in Section 2 is equal to the work authorization expiration date in Section 1, 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 for Reverification 

Transactions that have undergone Supplement B for reverification will not be considered for the EAD auto-extension processing. This can be confirmed by checking the transaction in the Form I-9 Master.

For example, as shown here, the transaction does not contain any Supplement B reverification data in its I-9 Master.

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

In this example, the I-9 is active, and no termination date is set. To verify if a termination date exists, go to the "Set/View Termination Date" page via "Info and Actions" in the I-9 Console.

If a termination date exists, it will appear on the Set Employment Termination Date page and in the I-9 Master. In this example, since no termination date is set for the selected I-9 ID, it is not displayed on either the Set Employment Termination Date page or the I-9 Master.

For navigating to the I-9 Master, click the I-9 ID link for the corresponding Form 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 labeled as "Sec-2 Corr|Receipt Upd|EAD Ext".

To process these transactions, search for the Invitation ID or by name in the My Tasks Console or within the "My Tasks" category of Keyword Search. Click 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.

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

A sample page showing the completed "Reason for I-9 Section 2 Correction" activity is provided 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. 

Note: If you wish to provide a different document other than the current selected Employment Auth. Document (Form I-766), select the respective Document Title in the List A or List B & List C and provide the necessary details with respective to the document provided.

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 asked to upload attachments, particularly if the attachment is configured as mandatory in the I-9 activities. If prompted, ensure that you upload the required attachment.

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.